丹佛——在一个温和的日子里，丹佛奥罗拉郊区的午餐时间，一辆满载青少年的卡车驶进了一个学生聚集的高中停车场，枪声响起。
当其他人在恐惧中奔跑时，三人受伤。
法院文件称，在11月19日枪击案中被指控的一名男孩后来告诉调查人员，他带着他的武装朋友参加了一场预期的帮派斗争，因为“这个镇上就是这样”。
这起枪击案是两周内涉及青少年的几起案件之一，这些案件再次引起了人们对该州第三大城市长期存在的枪支暴力和帮派问题的关注，警方一直在审查该市对待黑人居民的方式。活动人士和官员表示，容易获得枪支是造成这一问题的原因之一，疫情及其对该市少数民族青少年心理健康的影响也加剧了这一问题。
在美国各地，近年来，包括2021年在内，涉及儿童和青少年的枪击事件有所增加。儿童保护基金3月份的一份报告发现，儿童和青少年枪击死亡人数在2017年达到19年来的最高水平，并且一直在上升。黑人儿童和青少年被枪杀的可能性是白人的四倍。
近年来，随着丹佛的房价上涨，奥罗拉的黑人和拉丁裔家庭以及来自世界各地的移民都有所增加。麦莎·菲尔兹说，这些有色人种家庭在健康方面受到的打击更大，但在经济方面也受到了新冠肺炎·疫情的影响，这加剧了心理健康问题。她是一名活动家，在这座约有37.9万人口的城市为年轻人和家庭服务。
11月19日的枪击事件始于一卡车男孩到达欣克利高中停车场后的一场争吵。据警方称，在最初的枪声响起后，小货车开走了，至少有两个青少年从窗户里用枪指着，让学生们在恐惧中奔跑。
三名16岁的少年后来被指控，其中包括与调查人员谈论帮派争斗的男孩。
菲尔兹也是布雷迪枪支控制倡导组织的副主席，她说这位青少年对武装需求的态度让她不寒而栗。这让她想起了导致她哥哥贾瓦德·马歇尔-菲尔兹和他的未婚妻薇薇安·沃尔夫于2005年在奥罗拉被枪杀的冷酷无情，当时他正准备指证一名男子，该男子被指控在一场音乐会上枪杀了他的朋友。
杰森·麦克布莱德是一名暴力预防专家，他在丹佛和奥罗拉与青少年一起为“爱的斗争基金会”工作，奥罗拉市议会成员安吉拉·劳森都表示，青少年向他们展示了Snapchat帖子，在这些帖子中，信息消失了，并提供枪支出售。
麦克布赖德认为，大部分问题应归咎于帮派——不一定是像前几年那样有组织的克里普斯和布拉德，而是规模较小、联系松散的青少年群体，他们可能与某个特定的社区没有关联，但会在社交媒体上陷入纠纷。
麦克布赖德说，一些人还使用三维打印机或通过购买和组装网上购买的零件来制造自己的无法追踪的枪支。
他说，看到亲人在枪击中丧生造成的世代创伤也使他们正常化。远离学校，逃避家庭问题，已经使一些青少年的心理健康变得紧张。
麦克布赖德说，一个16岁的男孩最近告诉他，如果他打架，他会用子弹，这样他就不用担心弄脏自己的衣服。
“那是我们孩子的头部空间，”他说。
凯拉·阿姆斯特朗-罗梅罗(Kyla Armstrom-Romero)表示，尽管青少年枪击案在奥罗拉并不是一个新问题，但在校园内或校园附近发生的枪击案并不常见。在新当选的成员就职后，凯拉·阿姆斯特朗-罗梅罗一直担任该市学校董事会主席，直到上周卸任。她说，她希望对学校附近枪击事件的关注将引发人们对预防青少年枪支暴力工作的更多兴趣，她说，这方面的资金经常不足。
劳森也认为社交媒体上的争斗以及去年学生被要求呆在家里的影响是导致暴力的原因。但她认为帮派只是枪击事件的部分原因。
当选民在2018年取消摄像头后，该市最初的反帮派计划结束了，因为它的资金——被摄像头拍到闯红灯的司机的罚款——消失了。今年4月，该市启动了一项新的青年暴力预防计划，该计划由大麻销售税的增加资助。然而，劳森说，在计划的六个职位中，只有三个已经填补，包括一名外联工作者。
该市发言人瑞安·卢比说，该市有110万美元的预算，正在为剩余职位进行招聘。他说，部分资金还将支持社区主导的努力。
劳森说，这个城市的青少年还需要一个他们可以去的专用场所，可能是这个城市的一个娱乐中心，在那里他们可以参加有组织的活动，获得包括心理健康咨询在内的服务，并与他人交谈。
不过，阻止暴力还需要父母、警察和更广泛的社区的帮助，她说。
“一切尽在掌握之中，”劳森说。
Teen shootings in Denver suburb renew focus on gun violence
The Associated Press
FILE - Edgar James, front center, battles with tears as he hugs his daughter, Mia, front right, and his wife, Olga Aguirre, front left, as they are reunited outside Hinkley High School in Aurora, Colo., on Friday, Nov. 19, 2021. A string of shootings involving teenagers has placed renewed attention on a long-running problem of gun violence and gangs in Aurora just outside Denver. Activists and officials say easy access to guns is contributing to the problem in Colorado's third largest city. (Philip B. Poston/Sentinel Colorado via AP,File)
DENVER -- It was lunchtime on a mild day in the sprawling Denver suburb of Aurora when a truck full of teens pulled into a high school parking lot where students were gathered, and gunfire rang out.
Three were wounded as others ran in fear.
One of the boys charged in the Nov. 19 shooting later told investigators he brought his armed friends to an expected gang fight because “it’s the way it is in this town,” court documents said.
The shooting was one of several involving teenagers within a two-week span that have placed renewed attention on a long-running problem of gun violence and gangs in the state’s third largest city, where the police department has been under scrutiny for its treatment of Black residents. Activists and officials say easy access to guns is contributing to the problem, which has also been exacerbated by the pandemic and its effect particularly on the mental health of minority teens in the city.
Across the United States, shootings involving children and teenagers have increased in recent years, including 2021. A March report from the Children’s Defense Fund found child and teen shooting deaths reached a 19-year high in 2017 and have remained elevated. Black children and teenagers were four times more likely than whites to be fatally shot.
Aurora has seen an increase in Black and Latino families and immigrants from around the world as Denver has grown more expensive in recent years. These families of color have been hit harder health-wise but also economically by the COVID-19 pandemic, contributing to mental health problems, said Maisha Fields, an activist who works with youth and families in the city of about 379,000.
The Nov. 19 shooting started with an argument in the parking lot at Hinkley High School after the truckload of boys arrived. After the initial shots were fired, the pickup drove away, with at least two teens pointing guns from the windows, sending students running in fear, according to police.
Three 16-year-olds were later charged, including the boy who spoke to investigators about the gang fight.
Fields, who is also vice president for organizing for the Brady gun control advocacy group, said the teen's attitude about the need to be armed gave her chills. It reminded her of the callousness that led to her brother, Javad Marshall-Fields, and his fiancee, Vivian Wolfe, being shot and killed in Aurora in 2005 as he was preparing to testify against a man charged in the fatal shooting of his friend at a concert.
Jason McBride, a violence prevention expert who works with teens for the Struggle of Love Foundation in Denver and Aurora, and Aurora City Council member Angela Lawson both said teens have showed them Snapchat posts, where messages disappear, offering guns for sale.
McBride thinks gangs are to blame for much of the problem — not necessarily the organized Crips and Bloods as in previous years, but smaller, loosely affiliated groups of teens who may not be associated with a particular neighborhood but who get into disputes on social media.
Some also create their own untraceable guns using a 3-D printer or by buying and assembling parts purchased online, McBride said.
Generational trauma caused by seeing relatives killed in shootings has also normalized them, he said. And being kept away from school, an escape from problems at home, has strained the mental health of some teens.
McBride said a 16-year-old recently told him he would use bullets if he got into a fight so he would not have to worry about messing up his clothes.
“That’s the head space our kids are in,” he said.
While shootings involving teens are not a new problem in Aurora, ones on or near school grounds are unusual, said Kyla Armstrong-Romero, who was president of the city’s school board until stepping down last week after newly elected members took office. She said she hopes the attention given to the shootings near schools will ignite more interest in the work that needs to be done to prevent teen gun violence, which she said has often been underfunded.
Lawson agrees that social media fights and the effect of students being required to stay home last year have contributed to the violence. But she thinks gangs are only part of the reason for shootings.
The city’s original anti-gang program ended after its funding — fines from drivers caught on camera going through red lights — disappeared when voters eliminated the cameras in 2018. In April, the city started a new youth violence prevention program funded by an increase in the marijuana sales tax. However, only three of the planned six positions, including one outreach worker, have been filled, Lawson said.
With a $1.1 million budget, the city is in the process of recruiting for the remaining positions, city spokesperson Ryan Luby said. Some of the funding will also support community-led efforts, he said.
Teens in the city also need a dedicated place they can go, possibly one of the city’s recreation centers, where they can participate in organized activities, get access to services including mental health counseling and just talk to others, Lawson said.
Stemming the violence though will also require help from parents, police and the wider community, she said.
“It’s all hands on deck,” Lawson said.
