Leaders in Saginaw are turning to prayer as a way to fight the city’s rising violent crime rate.
Like other Michigan cities, Saginaw has endured a spasm of deadly violence this year.
Mayor Brenda Moore is organizing an event later this month with the city’s religious leaders.
“If I get enough pastors, you can’t tell me, that prayer don’t change things,” says Moore.
Bishop Larry Camel is the Pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Saginaw. He says prayer is the “key” to turning the city around.
“You can no longer party in a warzone,” says Camel, “We got to stop partying so much. We got to learn to stay at home.”
Saginaw civic leaders are also calling on city residents to get involved and work with young people to discourage more violence. Saginaw’s gun violence problem even touched the news conference.
At the close of the mid-day news conference, Police Chief Robert Ruth announced a Saginaw police officer had shot and injured a suspect as officers served a search warrant Thursday morning.
Ruth said the officer fired after the suspect grabbed a weapon and started firing.
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