Gun buyback program in Schenectady
One week after the shooting death of 15-year-old Eddie Stanley, Pastor Charlie Muller and the Schenectady NAACP team up for a gun buyback program in the Hamilton Hill neighborhood. As our Brandon Walker show us, they hope the community will come together and cease fire in the wake of Eddie's tragedy.
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SCHENECTADY, N.Y. -- They walk with a mission that's become all too familiar.
"We're looking to get the guns off the streets in Schenectady," said one volunteer as he passed along a flyer to a couple on Bridge Street.
Flyers in hand, volunteers, along with Pastor Charlie Muller, canvass Bridge Street Saturday, the scene of last Sunday's killing of 15 year old Eddie Stanley. They hope to make a connection that enough is enough.
"Making sure there's not a gun in at risk targeted area," Pastor Charlie said.
This isn't the first time Pastor Charlie's brought his gun buyback program to Hamilton Hill. He did it two years ago. Now, two years later, he's back in the wake of another senseless death.
"We invested our own money, and nothing happened. We're saying please don't get upset with us, join us, and let's make a difference on this hill," Muller said.
This declaration for change is often heard during a time of tragedy. But pastor charlie and other organizers here say sometimes it takes that tragedy to make things happen.
"It’s not that we're saying that we capitalize on tragedies.. No. We don't want them to happen. We're doing this because we want no more Stanley’s dead," said Pastor Ted Ward, of the Schenectady NAACP.
"They start to make phone calls. They start to connect with pastor ted, myself and others to say no," Pastor Charlie said.
And saying no they say is a start. First with the gun buyback program and hopefully with a community that takes back the streets on its own.
"I'm not saying that alone will do what we need to get done but it's connecting with community," Pastor Charlie said.
A call, once again, for the need to build a community. This time, though, hopefully someone heard them.
Pastor Charlie's church is offering $1,500 to anyone with information that leads to an arrest in connection with the murder of Eddie Stanley.