NATCHEZ — Natchez resident Sandy Butler Larry has gone through the pain of losing not one, but two sons to gun violence.

“It hurts so bad,” Larry said. “It’s like a pain that I can’t even describe.

“Not a single day goes by where I don’t think about my children.”

Larry lost her 24-year-old son, Bobby Butler, after a New Year’s Day 2016 shooting. Butler was shot in the area of Gardner Circle.

“You don’t expect something like that to happen there, because that’s an area where he was at all the time,” Larry said. “I can’t even drive my car around there because it’s so painful.”

Months later, law enforcement charged 21-year-old Jovan Keontra Singleton with the shooting.

Back in 2004, 20-year-old Darrell Butler suffered the same untimely demise, shot by a man of the same age, Larry said.

Now, Larry just wants the pain to stop and for youth in the community to think about the sorrow their actions could reap.

“It’s like they don’t learn from the things that happen prior,” she said. “They still do the same things. Still toting guns … they don’t learn. They don’t realize the pain they cause these mothers.”

The latest FBI Crime in the United States (CIUS) statistics showed a 3.9-percent increase in violent crime from the 2014 estimate (though the 2015 violent crime rate was 0.7 percent lower than the 2011 rate and a full 16.5 percent lower than the 2006 rate).

But what can we glean from looking locally at crime?

The Associated Press and USA Today recently examined youth gun violence rates in smaller cities, though still quite a bit larger than Natchez. But they explored a segment even younger than those involved in Bobby and Darrell Butler’s cases: teens.

Using Gun Violence Archive data, they found that Wilmington, Del., a town of less than 72,000, had the highest gun violence rates in the country involving individuals 12-17 years old.

This article uses the same data, but a slightly different method than the AP story. While the AP only looked at cases involving kids ranging from 12-17 years old whom were injured or killed from gun violence, this article uses cases involving members of that group that were either the victim or the shooter.

Using that method, Natchez has seen nine such incidents occur since the start of 2014.

For comparison, Greenville, a town with more than twice Natchez’s population, had eight of these incidents in the same time period. Brookhaven (population approximately 12,500) had three incidents and Hattiesburg (approximately 46,000) had four.

Youth violence is an issue from which local law enforcement leaders do not shy away.

Natchez Police Chief Walter Armstrong said he has seen guns and youth culture become more intertwined over the years.

“What I’m seeing in the last five to 10 years as it relates to gun violence with young people, it has really, really increased tremendously,” Armstrong said.

Both Armstrong and Adams County Sheriff Travis Patten used the same exact phrase to describe what they believe must happen in the community to prevent youth violence:

“It takes a village to raise a child,” both Patten and Armstrong said.

Patten said he believes not just this community, but those throughout the country have “gotten away” from that ideal.

“It used to be the community would step up and correct the child,” Patten said. “Now the community is living in fear because they lost touch with their neighborhood kids and they’re scared to say something to these kids.

“And most of them, to be honest with you, I can’t really blame them. With the way kids are acting out and lashing out and are so quick to grab a gun … we’re going to need some help from people to change this thing. We’re going to need some bold people.”

Patten also said he believes media effects have played a large role in youth culture concerning violence, something Armstrong also believes.

“There’s been crime involved with young people with guns (in Mississippi), we’re talking about 12- (or) 13-year-olds,” Armstrong said. “So you have to wonder, ‘where are they learning that from?’

“Kids are being raised by television … and the streets. That’s where they’re getting their learning, and in most cases, those are the two worst places to rear a child.”

The two law enforcement officials and Butler all noted the importance of parenting, and Butler specifically mentioned spirituality.

“God is not in the picture,” Butler said speaking generally. “Both my sons, they grew up in the church.

“I’m not judging anybody, I just raised my kids a certain way in the community.”

Armstrong noted that poor parenting is also going to carry over from the home and the streets into schools.

“If they’re not being raised properly, then that’s going to transfer into the school districts. That’s where the problem is going to rear its ugly head and make for a problem that will disrupt learning as a whole.”

Patten said he has made a concerted effort since 2015 when he became sheriff to tackle this problem, mainly by engaging the community.

“Now here we are, two years later, instead of kids running from us, they run to us now,” Patten said. “That’s important to us, because when I show up at your house, things are already

“I would even challenge the business owners. We need them to step up to the plate and start letting some of these kids come into their businesses and shadow them to show them what path they took to become successful and hopefully challenge them enough where they want to do even more,” Patten said.

Patten sees people in the community already doing some of these things, citing the D&J Youth Group, the YMCA, local Greek organizations and mentorship groups as a prime example of youth engagement.

“All these people … they’re stepping up,” Patten said. “The pastors and the leaders in this community — they’re stepping to the plate and realizing that if we all don’t do something, and not just law enforcement, then we’re going to lose a whole generation.”

Armstrong stressed the importance of having programs to keep kids occupied. Harkening back to his days as Vicksburg Police Chief, he provided an example of a summer youth program his department ran, at which he said a few hundred children participated for six weeks, Tuesday through Friday from 4 to 10 p.m.

“We utilized the two junior high schools in Vicksburg, and we engaged them in sporting activities,” Armstrong said. “But we also engaged them in being good citizens and being good role models.

“We talked about values and integrity and character, and we brought in various speakers. What we noticed during those six weeks: crime involving kids would go down.”

Armstrong said he would hope to establish a similar program here at some point, though it would depend on community engagement

Armstrong and Patten have tasked the community with alleviating youth violence, and Larry wants young people to think before they act, in the hopes that Natchez will not lose another Bobby Butler.

“Once you pull the trigger, you can’t take it back,” Larry said.