Our Fayetteville mayor is fed up with gun violence in the city.
Mitch Colvin says he has seen enough, and the gunfire that interrupted the 43rd annual Fayetteville Dogwood Festival on April 26 and sent festivalgoers fleeing out of Fayetteville Plaza Park is what you might describe as the proverbial final straw.
“Fayetteville is a resilient city, and our greatest strength is our unity,” the 51-year-old mayor said in a news release Monday about the gunfire on Maiden Lane behind the Cumberland County Headquarters Library in close proximity to the park. “Together, we are committed to keeping our community safe — and to those who attempt to spread havoc and fear, we are coming for you.”
Usually, he’s something of a calm and collected mayor.
Not so much now.
And Colvin is taking his frustration straight to fellow city council members Kathy Keefe Jensen, who is the mayor pro tem, Derrick Thompson, D.J. Haire, Mario Benavente, Malik Davis, Courtney Banks-McLaughlin, Lynne Greene, Brenda McNair and Deno Hondros in support of his concerns, which includes the suggestion of a public safety state of emergency and potential for a citywide 9 p.m. curfew for unattended minors. He’s called for a special meeting tomorrow after a 2 p.m. work session at City Hall.
“Yes, I am prepared to issue a state of emergency and utilize this authority to put these important safety measures in place,” Colvin said Tuesday. “However, many of my colleagues support these ideas and are equally concerned about the safety of our community.”
There’s a silver lining here that no one was injured, according to the Fayetteville Police Department, when the gunfire erupted at approximately 8:35 p.m. along the 200 block of Maiden Lane, where police officers assigned to the festival discovered a vehicle that had been damaged by the gunfire.
Police, according to a news release, were assisting festivalgoers out of the park within 25 minutes, and the entire festival was suspended to include attendees and vendors along Hay Street and other downtown streets, and none too soon.
More than a dozen gunshots were heard just after 10 p.m. near Mason Street, according to CBS 17, and two people later were injured in a shooting at the Liberty Gas Station at 120 Rowan St. not far from the park.
‘It was packed Saturday’
Kaylynn Suarez, executive director of the festival, on Monday was telling the Fayetteville City Council the three-day festival was a successful event.
“… while it was a beautiful display of what a community can do when you come together,” she told the council, “it does feel like it’s overshadowed because of one negative moment.”
Suarez, 35, was more candid with The Kirby File.
“I will be honest, I can tell you it was packed Saturday, and we had a great turnout,” she said Tuesday. “It was an amazing view.”
But …
… I would be lying if I said this wasn’t devastating,” Suarez said. “Having limited information about what was unfolding just outside the festival grounds was incredibly frightening.”
You may be wondering precisely how many festivalgoers were in the park when the initial gunfire erupted.
“Festival Park is an open outdoor area, which means it doesn’t have an occupancy load,” Loren Bymer, director of marketing and communications for the city, said Friday. “An occupant area is only required for an arrangement of seating in a confined or an internal structure. If seats were placed, many factors would need to be considered to include exit routes and life safety plans.”
There have been no arrests in the gunfire along Maiden Lane.
“We are still investigating the gunshots that were fired during the Dogwood Festival,” Todd Joyce, the interim police chief, said Wednesday. “I am unable to provide information at this time [about] who the suspects may have been.”
The mayor isn’t saying much about potential suspects, either.
“These are ongoing investigations, so I am not at liberty to say,” Colvin said. “However, a 14-year-old was caught with a stolen weapon the night of the shooting.”
Joyce told the city council on Monday that the teenager was stopped along Hay Street, and the firearm stolen five days before was loaded.
Think about it.
A 14-year-old with a loaded gun in the midst of festivalgoers.
The mayor isn’t saying if he knows for sure that an underage youth or underage youths were those who shot at the vehicle on Maiden Lane.
“Just don’t want to officially connect something that may jeopardize the investigation,” he said Wednesday. “However, the numbers are clear — 1,500 juvenile incidents in 2024, not including the 1,400 incidents in the schools since we took over last August,” providing school resource officers in some county schools in the city.
But it may be a reason why the mayor is considering a citywide curfew for minors unless they are accompanied beyond 9 p.m. with a responsible parent or guardian.
‘It was especially frustrating’
Colvin is pitching some bold initiatives for the City Council to consider tomorrow, including stiff penalties for parental non-compliance; restrictions at large gatherings to include bans on masks and backpacks on city-owned property or city-sponsored events, although medical exemptions will be considered; enhanced technology and surveillance to include more downtown cameras with license-plate readers, facial recognition, etc; contracted partnerships with private security agencies and additional gates and perimeter fencing at Festival Park and other venues; and increasing Fayetteville-Cumberland County Crimestoppers rewards to $5,000 for information leading to the arrest of violent offenders.
He’s frustrated with the gun violence in the city.
“It was especially frustrating when I heard about the shootings on Saturday night,” the mayor said.
He was just as upset when learning about 12-year-old Adrianna Bethea, who was struck by a bullet around 8:22 p.m. on March 22 while attending a carnival with her father in the 6900 block of Cliffdale Road in west Fayetteville.
“I was honestly angered hearing about the carnival shooting and the little angel hit by the stray bullet, while enjoying an evening with her family,” the mayor said. “Our citizens pay for and expect safety, and I am extremely committed to do everything within my power to ensure families can be protected.”
Adrianna Bethea, according to her family, is a cheerleader and a dancer. Her family, according to published reports, says she may never walk again.
Colvin visited with Bethea and her parents on Wednesday after she returned home from recovery and physical therapy at WakeMed Health & Hospitals in Raleigh.
Epilogue
Mitch Colvin isn’t sure how his fellow Fayetteville City Council members will react to his suggestions for mitigating city crime.
He is aware there likely will be pushback to his proposals, particularly the juvenile curfew.
“I know these actions alone will not fix the problem completely, but it will give our law enforcement officers another tool to use to keep our community safe,” he said. “I look forward to supporting the new chief and his or her vision and strategies to deal with this. If this saves the life of one of our young people, this temporary inconvenience will have been worth it.”
What transpired on the second night of the Fayetteville Dogwood Festival was alarming and disheartening. It could have been deadly if not for the quick response of city police officers, just as law enforcement responded the same evening along the 900 block of North Ocean Boulevard in Myrtle Beach, where 11 people were injured in an altercation and an 18-year-old shooter died at the hands of a police officer. The Myrtle Beach mayor, according to a published report, says the police officer acted appropriately.
Myrtle Beach is Myrtle Beach, and it was a traumatizing evening near the Grand Strand. This is Fayetteville, and it was a traumatizing evening near Festival Plaza Park.
“This is a great community with so many positive things happening,” Mayor Mitch Colvin said.
“Many of my constituents are tired of conceding peace and safety to those who choose to create chaos in the city. Enough is enough.”
Coming Wednesday: “Safety must always be our top priority,” Dogwood Festival executive director says
Bill Kirby Jr. can be reached at billkirby49@gmail.com or 910-624-1961.
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