Despite a spate of shootings, data shows gun violence in Cedar Rapids has declined

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – Cedar Rapids has seen a number of incidents involving gun violence in recent days, but data from the Cedar Rapids Police Department shows that the number of gun incidents in the city is declining.

Since Wednesday evening, there have been at least three shootings in the city:

• On Wednesday evening, there was a shooting incident at the corner of 8th Ave. SW and 3rd St. SW. No one was injured.
• A shooting occurred in the 6600 block of Kirkwood Boulevard Southwest on Saturday afternoon. Officers responded to the scene after receiving a 911 call. They found a person with two gunshot wounds. A 24-year-old man was arrested.
• Hours later, another shooting occurred, this time in the 800 block of 3rd Avenue SW. At around 11:15 p.m., police said two vehicles and three homes were struck by gunfire when people in two vehicles fired at each other. One person was injured when a ricochet bullet struck him in the foot.

According to Cedar Rapids Mayor Tiffany O'Donnell, these three shootings are just three data points in the overall story.

“Historically, this has been an incredible year in terms of the reduced number of shootings that have occurred,” said Mayor O'Donnell.

From January to August 2023, there were 51 shootings in Cedar Rapids.

For comparison: In this period from January to August there have been a total of 32 shootings so far.

“Well, not even close,” O'Donnell said.

However, O'Donnell said she realizes those numbers are not reassuring for those affected by this weekend's gun violence.

“If you're someone who lives in a house that was hit by a bullet or – God forbid – someone who was hit by a ricochet bullet, then a drop in the numbers means nothing to you. And I understand that,” she said.

Paige Johnson lives and works just steps from the crime scene on Kirkwood Boulevard.

She remembered telling her roommates the news.

“I was like, 'Holy shit, guys, someone got shot literally 20 meters from us, from our apartment, where we live.' And everyone was like, 'Holy shit. What the hell? That can't just have happened.' We were all a little scared and frightened.”

Isabella Burns lives on 3rd Avenue SW, where a shooting occurred just hours later. Her house was hit by gunfire, and one bullet even went through her front door and penetrated the living room wall.

“As a social worker, you see and experience a lot of violence, a lot of horrific things over the last five years, but you never expect something like that to happen to you. So it was, I mean, immediate terror,” Burns said.

Mayor O'Donnell said Cedar Rapids police told her the weekend's incidents were unrelated.

“Different topics, different actors,” she said.

She knows that's probably cold comfort to people like Johnson and Burns, but she wants people to know that overall, the data shows that fewer and fewer people are going through what Johnson and Burns went through this weekend.

“The encouraging sign is that we don’t have as many of these problems as we did in the past.”

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