ANDERSON — Members of the Madison County Hand-up Initiative led a peace walk Sunday night in hopes of curbing the violence the Anderson community has been facing.
Six people were wounded in a shooting early Sunday morning when an altercation broke out in a large crowd at 16th Street and Madison Avenue.
Police say they have been collecting evidence and spoke with multiple witnesses, but no arrests have been made.
“We’re here to show support for the business the shooting happened in front of, Sonny Ray’s. We’re here to show the community that we’re here to stay with them and unite against this violence,” Jason Fullington, Founder and President of Madison County Hand-up Initiative, said.
The group is a ten-point group, similar to the Indianapolis Ten Point Coalition, that works with the community of Anderson to halt violence.
“We are out in the streets, making contacts with the families who live in the neighborhoods where more crime is present. We’re reaching out to the youth we see and directing them to opportunities away from a life of crime,” Fullington said.
Fullington says the community is grieving after Sunday’s violence, and it is an issue that has been growing in frequency and intensity in recent years.
“We are here to urge the community to work together,” Fullington said. “We’re all brothers and sisters under the same creator. We’re all family in the same city, and we need to take pride in the town and bring it back to its former glory.”
The Madison County Hand-up Initiative meets every Friday night. They are urging community members to join the group to help make Anderson a safer place.
“We have 20 to 30 volunteers at any given time, but that doesn’t give you the coverage that it sounds like it would. Since it’s volunteer based, people have jobs, family and a life. They aren’t available all the time. We need the community to get involved,” Fullington said.
For more information on the group, visit their website or Facebook page.
