The top prosecutor in New Mexico begged young men in the state’s largest city to stop committing violence on Monday, according to a press release.
U.S. Attorney for the District of New Mexico Alexander M.M. Uballez announced that the federal government awarded a more than $2 million grant to the Albuquerque Community Safety Department and its Violence Intervention Program, according to the press release. There were 120 murders in Albuquerque in 2022, which was an approximate 9% increase since 2021 and a 50% since 2019, according to police data. (RELATED: ‘You Coddle These Criminals’: Blue City Women Slam Soft-On-Crime Policies At Community Meeting)
“To those young men in our community who are spiraling out of control, trapped in a world of hatred and fear: We want you to be safe, alive, and free, but the shooting must stop. We will help you if you let us and stop you if you make us,” Uballez said, according to the press release.
Police tape blocks off the area after a man shot four people in a building on May 3, 2023.(Photo by ELIJAH NOUVELAGE/AFP via Getty Images)
On June 24, a police shootout occurred in a supermarket in Albuquerque that resulted in two store clerks being killed in the crossfire. Another man was shot in the city on June 26 over a theater seat dispute.
“With this funding, the Violence Intervention Program will intervene to address root causes of the violence which has plagued our streets,” Uballez said, according to the press release. “By centering the safety of those who are most at risk of shooting and being shot, we make the community safer for us all.”
“This investment in ACS’s Violence Intervention Program helps address violence at its root,” Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller said, according to the press release.
Keller and Uballez did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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