PORTSMOUTH, Va. — The steps of Portsmouth City Hall became a podium Friday evening.
“No one here is pointing the finger calling them the enemy. But there is nothing wrong with holding people accountable," said local pastor Barry Randall-Jenkins.
A collection of community advocates, Randall-Jenkins included, called for renewed attention on accountability from city leadership over recent gun violence in Portsmouth.
Their "Lead or Leave" rally comes the same week as local residents and business owners voiced concerns at Portsmouth City Council after two shootings, a triple shooting on Jefferson Street which led to the death of one man, and then a separate shooting on High Street in the city's downtown.
“I’m standing here because I know. I’ve experienced it. The pain will never go away," said Bilal Muhammad, leader of the Stop the Violence 757 organization, who lost his son in shooting in Norfolk in 2023.
“We ask the leadership, we’re not trying to hurt your credibility. We want you to stand up and achieve that credibility," he said.
The calls for accountability among city leadership come soon after Police Chief Stephen Jenkins cited a 15 percent drop in violent crime over the last three months at a quarterly crime update Wednesday at his quarterly chief's forum.
He cited the city's homicide number currently sits at one less than this time last year.
But when asked whether residents can truly feel the decline, Randall-Jenkins said he still feels it's a similar story many in the community have heard before.
“When you ask parents, 'Hey ma’am, we understand your son just got killed, but we had five more [homicides] last year.’ No one is going to be happy," Randall-Jenkins said. "From a community standpoint, it hasn’t been minimized to us from what we see, because we’re still getting the same things, calls that nothing is being done.”
When including property crime as well, Jenkins noted there is an 18% drop in total crime across the city in Portsmouth when comparing the third quarters of 2024 and 2023.