Several families who report being repeatedly exposed to violence and gunshots contributed to the Peace Centered Alliance report "Violence-Impact on Our Children Learning."
One of those families living in the Lake Dreamland area reported the children "jump, startle and cry" when they hear loud noises. The family didn't want to share their identity because they're afraid for their lives and their home.
"He was crying every night, he's regressed to a 2-year-old," one parent said. "He can't get loose from his mother. She just did get him to go back to school, and she had to sit with him at school because he was afraid to stay there."
Community activist Christopher 2X started the Peace Centered Alliance hoping to promote education as the tool to stop violence. They requested numbers from LMPD regarding citizen reported gun shots fired, and Chris 2X said the report shocked him.
"There's a lot of unseen children and parents who are impacted by gun firing neighborhoods who never get hit by these bullets," Chris 2X said. "But it could effect something with them, especially the children, as they go back to school."
There were over 3,500 reports from January 2018 through March 21, 2019. Chris 2X said the spread of the shots, with every district reporting at least 128 (5th District), shows how important tackling this issue should be to the community.
"Everybody fits in this whole category as human beings and they need to be treated in that ways as it related to violence like they're special," Chris 2X said.
The report hasn't been fully released yet, but Chris 2X said the report will be used by the education commission in all 120 counties of Kentucky.
"It's not just a Jefferson County issue," Chris 2X said. "It's a state wide issue in many ways, and as we talk about school safety as we do, and school safety as we do, this can be another added tool."