As gun violence continues, Providence residents lock arms for peace

Diana Garlington held her third annual Lock Arms for Peace event in Providence Saturday evening. About a dozen people gathered near the intersection of Broad Street and Elmwood Avenue, locking arms and speaking out against violence in the community.

Just two hours before the start of the event there was a shooting in the Hartford Park neighborhood that sent a young man into surgery.

“This has to stop, we have to change,” said Garlington, who lost her 21 year old daughter Esscence Christal in a drive-by shooting on November 26, 2011. That murder remains unsolved. “We have to bring the parents out here and they need to step up. It’s not just the African-American community. It’s the Hispanic, the white, it’s all communities, not just us.”

Providence City Councilmember Michael Correia (Ward 6) and Providence Mayoral Candidate Kobi Dennis were in attendance.

“I’ve been to four non-violence events today,” said Dennis. “And while I’m at a non-violence event, a young man gets shot in the chest… He’s in surgery right now.”