'Why is this city not mad as hell?' US attorney targets Louisville's record violence

With 2021 on the horizon, The Courier Journal asked seven influential people in the Louisville region about what they see as priorities, opportunities and challenges in the new year. This article is one piece of the seven-part series.

We asked Russell Coleman, appointed by President Donald Trump as U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky three years ago, about his greatest obstacles and his game plan in Louisville, which has been marred by record homicides and shootings in 2020.

Coleman worked as a special agent with the FBI until he became a paraplegic due to a spinal tumor in 2008. He credits the University of Louisville Health's Frazier Rehabilitation Institute for helping him to learn to walk again. 

A native of rural Western Kentucky, Coleman has traveled to each of the 53 counties in his district to talk with citizens, community leaders and local law enforcement.

Here's what he said during an interview this month.

What’s your top priority for 2021?

Reducing violent crime in Jefferson County. Saving people's lives. Keeping people from being shot.

We are almost at 150 murders and 550 shootings to date in 2020, primarily in the West End. Those are astronomical numbers considering that until 2014, Louisville averaged 40-50 homicides per year. 

In August, I stood at St. Stephens Church with the family of 3-year-old Trinity Randolph, who was killed by gunfire — a beautiful little girl in her Disney Frozen coffin with the prettiest, tiny little shoes. 

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This type of violence would not be tolerated elsewhere in Louisville. If you care about Black lives, you have to do more than post a social media hashtag or put a sign in your yard. 

During my tenure, we increased collaborations between federal, state and local law enforcement to target the city's trigger pullers, carjackers and violent street gangs. But what we are doing is clearly not working.

What’s the biggest obstacle to change in Louisville?

We're gonna have the highest number of shootings in the history of Louisville this year, the highest number of homicides, yet there has not been a commensurate sense of urgency.

Why is this city not mad as hell that its young people are being shot down at such alarming numbers?

Louisville is filled with amazing people. I've been loved on by this community — a guy whose legs didn't work and learned to walk again here. But we must do a better job taking care of our neighbors. We are one city.

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How do you see the coronavirus pandemic impacting your organization, business or field in 2021?

The caliber of people that serve in this office and in federal law enforcement here, aided by new technology, not only continued to perform the mission but responded to emerging threats unique to 2020: increased amounts of child exploitation during COVID-related school closures, COVID-related fraud and threats to law enforcement and protecting the broader communiy during the periods of civil disorder. 

What was your greatest frustration in 2020?

It’s maddening how polarized and toxic the environment is in Louisville, especially fueled by social media and sometimes intellectually dishonest click-motivated journalism. I reject the notion that we can’t take a position of both pro-police and pro-police reform.

What are you going to do differently in 2021?

We are teaming with private donors to launch a new approach to public safety known as "Group Violence Intervention," or GVI. I applaud the Star Wars Bar of collaboration, from the business community/GLI, to the Mayor’s Office, Governor’s Office, LMPD, our Commonwealth’s & County Attorneys, Justice Cabinet, FBI, our faith-based community, Volunteers of America and other stand-out nonprofits here in this city, coming together to support a more equitable and more effective way to reduce these numbers of murders and shootings.

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I recognize that many in primarily minority neighborhoods feel over-policed but under- protected. The beauty of GVI is that the approach addresses both concerns and can go a long way toward rebuilding (or in some cases building) relationships between fine public servants who carry a badge and those that need to be better protected. 

GVI cut murders in Boston in half and youth homicide by two-thirds and is credited with significant reductions in Newburg, New York and Oakland, California.

There are a very small number of people who are trigger pullers. We have to approach them and give them an opportunity to get out of this cycle of violence. They can either take it, or they can face more traditional prosecution.

If done right, GVI works. It's gonna save lives as long as this city holds us, its leaders, accountable to implement it the right way.