City leaders address gang violence in Raleigh following second arrest in Crabtree Mall shooting

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- Raleigh Police made a second arrest on Wednesday night after a shootout at Crabtree Valley Mall over the weekend.

They arrested 22-year-old Jamarion Burton of Durham. He was charged with a felony after opening fire outside the mall on Saturday which broke the windows of nearly 20 cars.

"For you to do the 'OK Corral' in a public place, that takes some nerve," said Kerwin Pittman, a social justice advocate and former Raleigh gang member. "What I realize about the field I'm in is that hurt people 'hurt' people. So what made this guy do this shootout? What drove him to this?"

The incident was described in detail in court on Tuesday by prosecutors as an "OK Corral style gunfight between two rival gangs" in the first appearance for 24-year-old Jacquez Brown of Durham.

This is one of the first times we've heard an incident being acknowledged as 'gang-related.'

"While we certainly welcome people here, we don't want to see trouble," said Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin. "It was unfortunate, apparently gang members from another community, who decided to come to Raleigh to wreak havoc."

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She said it's not just outside actors coming to the Capital City to cause trouble.

"We certainly have our own share of crime and drug incidents," she said.

Baldwin highlighted new initiatives from the police department to prevent crime before it happens.

She touted what's being done in and around Downtown near Moore Square with private security.

"That's the kind of stuff we want to prevent from happening but that also takes collaboration among all departments, the police, like how are we doing to work together?" Mayor Baldwin said.

Pittman sees the work in a different way.

"Until we take it seriously as a whole and city leaders take it seriously, and not just with words saying we have a problem and do something other than locking people up to address these problems, it's going to continue to happen sadly," he said.

Kerwin said housing and mental health are crucial, emphasizing that we cannot police our way out of the situation.

Crabtree said they have a number of measures in place to keep shoppers safe including security and RPD officers.