Police, prosecutors and schools cite rising juvenile shootings and staffing gaps at Lewon meeting

Lewon — Police, prosecutors, school leaders and community groups gathered at a special Lewon City Council meeting Wednesday to describe a sharp increase in youth-involved gun incidents and to urge a mix of immediate safety measures and long-term prevention.

Police Chief Carly Connley told the council the department has recorded 19 shootings in 2026, including a cluster of nine in April, and that juvenile involvement is up: 12 incidents this year involved minors compared with seven involving adults. She said the department has cleared 13 of 19 shootings (about a 68% clearance rate), seized 44 firearms this year (41 handguns and three long guns) and made a tactical shift — more foot patrols, targeted saturation details and closer work with federal partners — after the April spike. “We’ve been very fortunate. Our staff has done a great job at really investigating these and trying to bring them to closure,” Connley said, while urging residents to secure firearms and to report suspicious activity.

District Attorney Neil Mlan framed the problem in terms of capacity and law. He said District 3 handles roughly 3,250 pending criminal cases across three counties and is operating with far fewer prosecutors than comparable districts; his office has assigned two prosecutors to prioritize gun cases but still needs more staff and better pay parity to retain talent. Mlan also flagged how juvenile competency findings and statutory limits on detention restrict what prosecutors and judges can do in many cases. “We need more prosecutors,” he said, adding that fixes will likely require changes in Augusta to competency statutes and to funding for juvenile services.

Lewon Public Schools Superintendent Jake Langless described how schools are drawing disciplinary lines for students involved in serious violence, while still trying to preserve re-entry plans and supports for expelled students. Langless reported that some students have told school staff that very young children obtain guns by checking unlocked vehicles and said social-media glorification of weapons adds to the problem.

Representatives of community organizations and the Department of Corrections urged a holistic response. Chris Bicknell of New Beginnings called the crisis a public-health problem and recommended the city pursue discretionary state and federal dollars, opioid-settlement grants and foundation support for targeted prevention. DOC officials said the department invests in evidence-based programs in the community (MST, FFT, mentoring and restorative justice), and described how Long Creek Youth Development Center provides clinical stabilization and rehabilitative services for detained and committed youth.

Throughout the evening, councilors and officials debated how to balance accountability and rehabilitation. Several councilors and members of the public urged tougher immediate steps — more officers, ankle-monitoring and legislative changes to prevent quick returns to the streets — while community groups and school staff emphasized outreach, mentoring and wraparound services for high-risk youth. Restorative-justice practitioners said street-level engagement and volunteer mentors can be rapid, low-cost ways to reach youth who are disconnected from supports.

Public comment was lengthy and often emotional. Residents described living in fear of stray bullets, urged greater enforcement and legislative action in Augusta, and offered grassroots solutions: volunteer mentors, sports and arts programming, and neighborhood outreach to build ties that might deter violence. Several speakers urged locking firearms and discussed missed opportunities to repurpose existing local and state resources for prevention programs.

The meeting did not produce formal votes or new ordinances. Instead, speakers from policing, prosecution, education, corrections and community organizations left the council with a shared list of immediate concerns — more prosecutorial and law-enforcement capacity, better coordination among agencies, clearer options for juvenile detention and treatment, and expanded funding for evidence-based prevention — and with competing views about which mix of tactics should take priority.

What’s next: officials encouraged continued coordination with state partners, pursuit of grant funding, and more community-led outreach. The council said it would compile submitted questions and publish follow-up materials for residents and pledged to continue the conversation.