LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Residents of Louisville's Russell Neighborhood are still processing the deadly school bus stop shooting that happened on September 22, leaving one teen dead.
It's been 2 weeks since 3 Eastern High School students were shot and one killed while waiting for their school bus in Louisville’s Russell neighborhood. Local barber Mark Pence describes the feeling in the neighborhood in days following the tragedy as "different."
What You Need To Know
- Neighborhood barber is giving free haircuts for neighborhood kids following deadly shooting
- 16-year-old Tyree Smith was shot and killed while waiting a JCPS school bus
- Two other teens were injured
- LMPD, FBI, ATF are investigating, and a $10,000 reward for information is being offered
Pence lives a few yards away from where an apparent drive-by shooting took place before sunrise on September 22. He's a barber, but he's also been helping organize several community events to support neighborhood children.
“The focus should really be on figuring out what the source of the problem is and attacking the source," Pence said.
While LMPD and other federal agencies investigate the shooting, Pence and several community organizations have been hosting art therapy events, providing mental health counseling and other volunteers have been driving students to and from school.
Pence has even been giving free haircuts to children.
“I definitely want to give a shout out to Cassandra Gray for her therapy services that’s being offered here in the neighborhood, that’s directly on the block for these people because it happened in front of here building," Pence said.
There are no arrests yet, but Pence believes that day will come. At the moment his focus isn’t on the criminal — it's on all the families impacted.
“These kids are really dying," Pence said. "These families are really in need of mental health services. All kinds of services that are being, in my eyes, that are being withheld or kept from us."
The reality is something terrible happened right outside Mark Pence’s door and that's why it’s so clear to him he wants to make a difference.
“That’s what we need. We don't need outrage. We don’t need a bunch of people screaming and hollering," he said. "We just need people getting on the ground and doing the work.”
The LMPD anonymous tip line is (502) 574-5673. A $10,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone involved in the shooting.