Correction:
This article was updated to reflect the correct phone number for the Akron Community Foundation, which is 330-376-8522.
Eight days after more than two dozen people were shot during a birthday party in East Akron, the City of Akron and community groups announced a fund to help victims recover.
Police Chief Brian Harding also announced that an additional victim has been identified, bringing the known tally of those hit by gunfire to 28. No suspects have been identified and no arrests have been made, although Harding said that he hoped to have more substantive information to share in the next few days and that the department has received a number of tips about the shooting and is investigating.
Akron Mayor Shammas Malik said that gun violence is a “huge issue” in the Akron community and that the fund will help provide support to victims from the June 2 shooting, but also for other victims of future acts of violence.
Leanne Graham, the president and CEO of Akron’s Victim Assistance Program, said her agency helps victims of crime, as in this case, or those affected by tragedies deal with the physical, emotional, psychological and financial aftereffects.
“To the 28 victims of last weekend’s shooting: We see you, we hear you, we want to be here for you,” Graham said at a press conference held Monday afternoon. “We know you are suffering, and we want to collectively help.”
Graham, along with Akron Mayor Shammas Malik and Akron Community Foundation Vice President John Garofalo, announced the creation of the Gun Violence Response Fund, set up to specifically help the victims of the June 2 shooting and their families.
Garofalo said the Akron community is generous and compared its response to the shooting to the way it responded to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, noting how residents helped raise $1.4 million to support the police and fire departments in New York City by funding a new ladder truck, two ambulances and three patrol cars.
“It is our hope that this community will once again be just as generous to this newly created Gun Violence Response Fund,” he said, “so that we can help the Victim Assistance Program meet the needs of those victims impacted by the events of last weekend’s shooting in East Akron.”
Garofalo said that the ACF board of directors voted last Friday to create the fund and to commit the first $25,000. The United Way of Summit & Medina matched that donation. Malik said he introduced legislation today to Akron City Council, co-sponsored by Ward 5 Council Member Johnnie Hannah, to add an additional $150,000 to the fund. The Victim Assistance Program will manage and distribute the money.
“This fund is not about funding violence prevention or intervention, it’s not about city government initiatives, this is about providing support to victims,” Malik said. “… This specific fund is something for our community to rally around to help the victims of this tragedy that we are dealing with.”
Akron City Council voted 11-0 Monday evening to allocate the requested $150,000. Ward 5 Council Member James Hardy was absent and didn’t vote, and Council President Margo Sommerville abstained.
Sommerville and her family own Sommerville Funeral Services, which will be the site of the service for LaTeris Cook, who died in the June 2 shooting. She abstained on the vote because it’s possible that money from the fund could be used to pay for Cook’s funeral.
Those interested in contributing to the Gun Violence Reduction Fund can donate on the Akron Community Foundation’s website or by calling 330-376-8522.
Victims seeking help can call the Victim Assistance hotline at any hour at 330-376-0040 or visit any one of the agency’s six offices throughout Summit County (locations are listed at the bottom of its website). Money will start being available at 1 p.m. on Monday, June 17.
“When you arrive or when you pick up that phone, we’re ready to listen, to empower, to educate, inform, and refer,” Graham said. “Thanks to this specific fund, we are now planning to address more victims’ financial strain [than] we’ve ever done before.”
Editor’s note: Akron Community Foundation and United Way of Summit & Medina are financial supporters of Signal Akron.
The story was updated to reflect Akron City Council’s approval of Malik’s request for $150,000.