From Staff Reports

ASHEVILLE, N.C — Following a downtown mass shooting, local leaders focused on violence prevention, community resource investments and federal partnerships, rather than arrests alone,

during a July 24 community briefing hosted by the City of Asheville and the Asheville Police Department at the ADP Headquarters downtown.

Prevention and support ideas that were proposed included the following

• Violence prevention funding: City Councilwoman Maggie Ullman and local groups emphasized investing in established local violence prevention programs, such as those run by the SPARC Foundation.

• Community health workers: Expanding trusted community worker networks to directly connect at-risk individuals with stable housing, healthcare, employment and food security.

• Youth resources: Addressing root causes by questioning and expanding positive youth engagement alternatives when schools are closed.

Regardjng enforcement and safety measures and federal prosecution partnerships, Interim APD Chief Jackie Stepp highlighted ongoing cooperation with federal agencies to crack down on illegal and high-powered firearms.

Stepp, the interim APD chief, also spoke of her unit adopting a targeted presence approach, including increasing communication with community organizers and deploying focused safety strategies around anticipated large public gatherings.

The “Comment Bubble” following a July 24 story by Asheville television station WLOS (News 13) on the community meeting included the following assertions:

• TheOracle — “There is certainly a focus on violence — but it has nothing to do with prevention and everything to do with the follow-up investigation.”  

• ILUVICE — “Only when the Dems stop  blaming everyone else for their failures... will something change. For the record, affordable housing is not the answer.”

• Normal — “40,000 years of ‘modern’ human & no one has stopped violence. Anyone believing ‘Manny’ has a plan for World Peace is nuttier than a RuPaul Sleepover.”

• JoePubliq — “After I turned 13, I went to work after school mowing the yards in the neighborhood, many for free because the people were my neighbors and elderly. 

‘After I turned 16 and had a driver’s license, I went to work and still mowed yards on the weekends for those who couldn’t do it themselves. 

“Once I finished high school, I joined the Army and became a leader for other men to follow. 

“There is PLENTY TO DO without someone else having to provide it. 

“I never waited on someone to hand me anything, I went out and earned it. 

“Today’s youth could do the same.”

• Chaplain2026 — “So I’m 53 years old and I had a newspaper route at an early age. Some of my friends and I loved for it to snow — shovel time.

“It’s not the same now. 

“Many youth don’t have the example to mirror.”