18 homicides already reported in Winston

Dec 26, 2023

Police block the intersection of Liberty and East 25th streets Monday, March 7 for an investigation into a double homicide.

Despite the surge in homicides across the United States, Winston-Salem's 18 homicides so far this year are behind the pace of the 22 homicides that occurred in the city during the same period in 2021, according to police statistics.

However, Winston-Salem ended last year with a record number of 44 homicides.

Catrina Thompson

"We are off to a rough start this year when it comes to crime in our city," Police Chief Catrina Thompson said. "However, I do not want citizens to feel unsafe or think that our city is dangerous, because it is not.

The city is experiencing a 20% decrease in homicides this year, as compared the same period in 2021, Winston-Salem police said.

"To add some perspective, all of our homicides so far this year have not been random, and we believe the suspects and victims knew each other," Thompson said. "I want the citizens of Winston-Salem to know that the women and men of the Winston-Salem Police Department are doing everything in their power to keep everyone as safe as possible.

"The best thing you can do to help us is if you know something or see something, say something," Thompson said. "If you know about a crime, report it. We need people to start speaking up. That's how we solve this problem. We need to help each other keep our neighborhoods safe."

Bobby Kimbrough Jr.

Forsyth County Sheriff Bobby Kimbrough Jr. said he is also aware of the uptick of violence in the city.

"Every day, somewhere in the world, somewhere in this community, the conversation is being held about the violence that is taking place," Kimbrough said.

"And every day, the question of how to slow the violence, how to ultimately stop it, is a priority of mine," Kimbrough said. "I sit and think about it for hours, day after day.

"And I keep coming back to the same blueprint," Kimbrough said. "And that is that each of us have to do our part and begin by recognizing there are some deeper issues we never address, we refuse to address."

Kimbrough said that those issues include illiteracy, poverty, homelessness, and mental health.

"All of which populate a certain part of our community more rapidly than other parts," Kimbrough said. "We see the life expectancy in specific zip codes decreasing, year after year.

"And we make no serious attempt to address it," Kimbrough said. "And then we ask the question — why is there violence? When you remove hope, when you remove health, thus begins the chaos."

Kimbrough said that there must be long-term solutions to the societal ills.

"Until we start to address the real issues and place real resources behind the social issues that plague our communities, we will continue to face criminal justice issues," Kimbrough said.

"But the truth of the matter is that when we are sick and tired of crime, when we are sick and tired of our babies dying, that is when we will start to see the real change," Kimbrough said. "This is not a black and white issue. This is not a party affiliation issue.

"This is not an east-side and west-side issue," Kimbrough said. "This is an issue of life and death."

Earlier in June, Kimbrough and Thompson announced that Forsyth County sheriff's deputies will assist Winston-Salem police in conducting saturation patrols in the city neighborhoods to reduce gun violence in those communities.

City officials are concerned about Winston-Salem's increasing crime numbers, especially the homicides, Mayor Allen Joines said.

Allen Joines

"It's not just Winston-Salem," Joines said. "Violent crime is up all across the state and the country."

Homicides and violent crime are increasing in the nation's major cities, Joines said. Violent crime is up 25% across the country, the mayor said.

The mayor acknowledged that many residents have concerns about their safety.

"I am concerned myself," Joines said. "But I would say that Winston-Salem is a safe city, relatively speaking."

The city has committed $1.3 million for its violence interrupter programs that will be used to supplement the efforts by the Winston-Salem Police Department to curtail violence, Joines said.

The city's 18th homicide involves the May 22 shooting death of Juan Carlos Hernandez-Mariche, 20, of Ansonia Street.

Hernandez-Mariche was found with fatal gunshot wounds at 1:37 p.m. at 2723 Ansonia St. in Winston-Salem, police said. Officers attempted lifesaving measures, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Hernandez-Mariche was in the yard behind his house when he was approached by at least two suspects, one of whom shot him before they fled the area, police said. The shooting didn't appear to be random, and the victim was targeted by the suspects, police said.

No arrests have been made in the case.

Winston-Salem's 17th homicide happened April 29 when Tyreik Davierre Elliott, 25 of Carver School Road died from multiple gunshot wounds at a local hospital, police said.

Officers responded at 2:48 p.m. to 3171 Carver School Road on a reported shooting, police said. After the officers arrived, they found Elliott unresponsive in the front yard.

Elliott was suffering from multiple gunshot wounds, and he was taken to an area hospital. Police are treating Elliott's death as a homicide.

Investigators determined the shooting was an isolated incident, police said. No arrests have been made.

The city's 16th homicide occurred April 28 when Saveyon Raymond Taylor, 20, of Millbrook Drive was shot to death during a gunfight inside an apartment on Country Club Road, police said.

Officers responded at 12:42 a.m. to a reported shooting at 4755 Country Club Road, Apt. 118-G, which is in the Sedgefield apartments. When officers arrived, they found Taylor and two other men, Christopher Lavon Williams, 24, and Keith Lorenzo Williams, 28, with gunshot wounds.

Taylor was pronounced dead at the scene, and the injured men were taken to a local hospital for treatment.

Investigators determined there was a small gathering of friends inside the apartment when a fight escalated, with several people firing guns at each other while inside the apartment, police said.

Evidence found at the scene led investigators to believe the gunfire was an isolated event, police said. No arrests have been made.

A high profile shooting happened shortly after 11:30 p.m. March 6 when Toriyana Marquez Gaskins, 20, of Argonne Boulevard, and a passenger, Treshaun Raymond Milton, 19, of Kingstree Ridge Drive were fatally shot as she drove a car on U.S. 52 South near 25th Street.

Gunmen fired more than a dozen bullets from another moving car, police said. Three other people in the car that Gaskins was driving were injured.

Lashanda Lewis is embraced by her husband, Patrick Smith, as she speaks about her daughter, Toriyana Gaskins, during a vigil on Tuesday, March 8, 2022, at 2440 N. Liberty St. in Winston-Salem. Gaskins and a passenger in the car she was driving were both fatally wounded on U.S. 52 South when gunmen fired more than dozen bullets from another moving car, Winston-Salem police said. Two additional passengers were wounded.

Gaskins managed to exit U.S. 52 onto Liberty Street after she was shot, but she lost control of her 2019 Nissan Sentra near the intersection of Liberty and 25th Street. The Sentra collided with a vehicle unrelated to the shooting.

Gaskins died at the scene, police said. Milton later died at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. Police believe the shooting suspects continued south on U.S. 52 as Gaskins exited at Liberty Street.

Two vehicles are crashed at the intersection of Liberty Street at 25th Street, Monday morning, March 7, 2022. Police received a call about a shooting just before midnight. When police arrived on the scene they found four people had been shot, two were dead and two injured.

The five people in the Sentra had been at the Cook Out on Akron Drive, police said. The victims may have encountered the shooters at the Cook Out, although there was apparently no trouble between the groups there.

Winston-Salem police officers investigate the scene where one person was fatally shot and another was injured on Wednesday afternoon, April 13 at 3500 S. Main St. in Winston-Salem. The shooting took place inside the business.

The city had a 9.3% increase in violent crimes from January through May of this year, as compared to the same period last year, according to police statistics. There have been 1,234 violent crimes in the first three months this year as compared 1,129 violent crimes during the same period in 2021.

Another statistic shows that fewer people have been shot so far this year as compared for the same period in 2021.

Winston-Salem police officers investigate the scene where one person was fatally shot and another was injured on April 13 at 3500 S. Main St. in Winston-Salem.

From Jan. 1 through Wednesday, June 22, 91 people in Winston-Salem have been shot this year, as compared to 114 people being shot during the same period last year, said Kira Boyd, a police spokeswoman. That represents a 18% decrease in shooting victims.

The violence in Winston-Salem coincides with a surge of mass shootings nationwide in recent weeks.

A gunman stormed into an elementary school May 24 in Uvalde, Texas, killing 19 children and two teachers in the United States’ deadliest school shooting in nearly a decade.

Law enforcement officers killed the shooter, identified as an 18-year-old teenager who had shot and wounded his grandmother and spelled out his violent plans in online messages shortly before the massacre at Robb Elementary.

The attacker, Salvador Ramos, shot his 66-year-old grandmother in the face at their Uvalde home, then fled in her truck as she summoned help, authorities said.

A short distance away, Ramos crashed the truck outside the school, got out with a rifle and approached a back door, authorities said.

An officer assigned to the school "engaged" Ramos, but the gunman got into the building and down a hallway to a fourth-grade classroom. After locking the classroom door, he opened fire around 11:30 a.m. with an AR-15-style rifle, carrying multiple magazines.

A team including local officers and Border Patrol agents ultimately forced the door open and shot Ramos to death after he fired at them, authorities said.

In earlier mass shooting in New York state, the white gunman who killed 10 Black people in a racist attack May 14 at a Buffalo supermarket was charged June 15 with federal hate crimes that could potentially carry a death penalty.

The criminal complaint filed against Payton Gendron, 18, coincided with a visit to Buffalo by Attorney General Merrick Garland. He met with the families of the people who were killed and placed a bouquet of flowers at a memorial outside the Tops Friendly Market, which has been closed since the attack.

"No one in this country should have to live in fear that they will go to work or shop at a grocery store and will be attacked by someone who hates them because of the color of their skin," Garland said.

Garland, who halted federal executions last year, did not rule out seeking the death penalty against Gendron. Garland said that "families and the survivors will be consulted" as the Justice Department weighs whether to seek capital punishment.

The federal hate crimes case is based partly on documents in which Gendron laid out his radical, racist worldview and extensive preparation for the attack, some of which he posted online and shared with a small group of people shortly before he started shooting.

FBI agents executing a search warrant at Gendron's home found a note in which he apologized to his family and wrote he "had to commit this attack" because he cares "for the future of the White race," according to an affidavit filed with the criminal complaint.

Christopher Wray, the FBI director, told CBS's 60 Minutes on April 21 that the COVID-19 pandemic has played a role in the nationwide increase in homicides and other violent crimes.

"We're seeing more and more juveniles committing violent crime, and that's certainly an issue," Wray said. "We're seeing a certain amount of gun trafficking, interstate gun trafficking. That's part of it. And we're seeing an alarming frequency of some of the worst of the worst getting back on the streets."

Of the 18 homicides in Winston-Salem, 15 people died by gunfire, two people were stabbed, and one victim was beaten to death, police said.

Six members of the Winston-Salem City Council, a criminologist and a sociologist point to several factors behind city's deadly violence.

Mayor Pro Tem Denise Adams said that the crime trends are "really unfortunate and very sad not just for the victims and their families but the entire community."

The city council will continue to work with public safety officials to protect city residents, said Adams who represents the North Ward on the council.

"But we need support from citizens when you know someone is participating in criminal activities," Adams said. "Our citizens have to help us to do better by reporting persons who mean only death and harm to all of us."

Adams pointed to the Neighborhood Watch program and Crime Stoppers "that can help our communities be safer if more citizens participated and utilized them."

Ronald Wright, a professor of criminal law at the Wake Forest University School of Law, agrees with Joines about the city's crime rates.

"The local crime statistics so far this year suggest that Winston-Salem faces problems similar to those of most other cities in the United States: much higher homicide rates (particularly handgun deaths) and somewhat higher violent crime rates," Wright said. "Nationally, the nonviolent crime rate remains fairly steady.

"Homicide tends to be concentrated in small geographic areas, among small groups of people," Wright said. "Criminology and law enforcement experts usually recommend a targeted policing strategy to address this."

There are remedies to stem the tide of crime in the city, Wright said.

"The best solutions also combine short-term measures — such as prosecution in the criminal courts — with long-term strategies to address economic stress, access to guns, access to health care (mental and physical), and other social conditions that generate crime," Wright said.

Annette Scippio, who represents the East Ward on the city council, said the city's homicide rate is very troubling.

"It seems that too many citizens are resetting their moral compass concerning the sanctity of life," Scippio said. "To murder a person, regardless of the reason, actually eliminates their existence.

"Once they die, they don't return," Scippio said. "They are gone forever."

Scippio said she wonders if people have become "desensitized to killing from practicing endless hours of games that reward killing villains over and over again to earn the highest score for murdering a video image.

"Have we become so angry, filled with hatred for others possibly triggered from hearing hateful words in music and watching television and movie productions that depict wrath, fighting and abuse in the guise of entertainment?" Scippio asked.

"Our reaction to all life situations is learned behavior," Scippio said. "What we hear, see, and say will produce either toxic environments or nurturing environments."

The personal choices and decisions made by homicide victims and the perpetrators have resulted in a "terrible level of homicides," Scippio said.

"As a community, we must collectively and intentionally help others to heal," Scippio said. "Especially by validating their existence like simply showing respect, being encouraging, saying hello, or giving a smile as they pass by."

The spirit of violence and rebellion is seriously rooted in this city, Scippio said.

"We can eliminate that spirit with the mighty weapon of love," she said. "Speaking, teaching, living, giving and showing love with sincerity to each other.

"When love is activated by every resident throughout and across all neighborhoods, (then) violence will have no place to thrive," Scippio said.

Council member Barbara Burke said that people who attended a May 25 town hall meeting in the Russell Recreation Center told the panelists that they (city residents) endure trauma and fear daily as gunshots, crime and homicides have taken over their neighborhoods.

Parents fear for the safety of their children, said Burke who represents the Northeast Ward on the council.

"People want to see an enhanced police presence in their neighborhoods," she said "So it will take all of us working together — law enforcement and you (city residents) our community to see the difference that we need to see."

Council member Kevin Mundy said that some of the gun deaths are probably gang related.

"It could be one gang against another gang," said Mundy who represents the Southwest Ward on the city council. "It could be a gang initiation. It doesn't seem to be random."

Other homicides appear to be "one person against another person, and those people know each other," Mundy said.

The police department updated the council's public-safety committee June 13 on the various programs and initiatives that the agency is using to predict and prevent overall crime with a primary focus on gun violence, Mundy said, and to identify and apprehend the perpetrators of these crimes.

"The police are better equipped to deal with a crime after-the-fact than they are to prevent crimes," Mundy said. "Information from neighbors, family members, teachers, store owners and others who interact with potential criminals can help the WSPD prevent crimes and save lives."

The homicides in Winston-Salem up to this point in 2022 are pretty atypical compared with homicides that happen throughout the nation, said Tiffany Zhang, a visiting assistant professor of sociology and criminal studies at Salem College.

First, 33% of these homicides involved a male victim over the age of 40, Zhang said. The nationwide percentage in this area for 2019 (the most recent crime publication available by the FBI) is only at 28%.

Typically, homicide victims are between the ages of 18 to 40 years old (65% nationwide), and within that category generally between age 18 and 30, Zhang said.

The homicide rate in Winston-Salem for 2021 was 3.2, meaning for every 100,000 people residing in Winston-Salem, three homicides happened, Zhang said. In in nearly six months of 2022, this rate has already increased to 7.3 for every 100,000 people living in the city.

"The homicide rate for Winston-Salem in 2022 isn't alarming compared to the rates of other cities in America with a population between 100,000 to 249,000, which is also around 5.9 homicides per every 100,000 people, Zhang said, "but it is odd that the city is experiencing a spike in homicides compared to 2021 in just a few months."

The causes of crime are difficult to address, said Jeff MacIntosh who represents the Northwest Ward on the city council.

"We research and discuss with our peer cities potential solutions," MacIntosh said, "And we implement ones that we think are viable and discard ones that we don't believe will work.

"Suffice it to say that preventing crime before it happens is far preferable to dealing with it after it has occurred," MacIntosh said. "I always say that once the blue lights are turned on, the battle is already lost."

Joines, Mundy and MacIntosh said that shortages of police officers in Winston-Salem might be a factor in the crime rates. They also pointed to the national trend of increasing homicides.

"The shortage of officers makes it more likely that a criminal would not be apprehended because we have fewer officers patrolling," Mundy said.

The city has a shortage of 104 police officers, said Boyd, the police spokeswoman.

The council has increased the salaries of police officers, approved bonuses and taken other measures to recruit and retain officers, MacIntosh and Joines said.

"We will be exploring the use of non-sworn personnel for certain jobs to free up sworn officers," Joines said.

Mundy pointed to the C.U.R.E. (Communities United for Revitalization and Engagement) program.

C.U.R.E. is an alliance of neighborhood association representatives and community stakeholders, according to a city document. The program received $200,000 in the city's budget for fiscal year 2022.

Robert Clark, who represents the West Ward on the city council, said that the COVID-19 pandemic might be factor because people have been confined for two years in their homes, with their routines being disrupted.

"It's terrible this year," Clark said of the crime statistics. "It's even worse than it was last year."

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@jhintonWSJ

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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Police block the intersection of Liberty and East 25th streets Monday, March 7 for an investigation into a double homicide.