SCRANTON – Five homicides already this year – all after a police officer survived being shot – have rattled the city.
The wave of killings took place in less than ten weeks, from early March to mid-May.
The recent wave of shocking violence that has already marked 2024 as an outlier began on January 11 with the shooting of police Detective Kyle Gilmartin in Scranton. Despite being shot twice in the head by an assailant at point-blank range in West Scranton during an investigation into shootings in the city, Gilmartin has made a remarkable recovery.
But several murders soon followed.
■ On March 7, another point-blank shooting, this time during a North Scranton gas station robbery, killed a random victim two days later.
■ On March 10, a man was found strangled in a home on St. Ann’s Street in the West Side during a drug raid.
■ A month later, on April 9, in what police called a gang-related fatality, a man was gang-beaten and shot multiple times at Weston Field.
■ Three weeks later, an April 29 domestic violence incident in South Scranton resulted in a man accused of fatally shooting his brother in the back of the head in their home.
■ Another gruesome death occurred in mid-May: A man was shot in the chest while behind the wheel of his car in West Scranton during a drug robbery late May 14.
Although unrelated, the five killings that occurred in such quick succession have shocked the city, officials and residents say. Some incidents also involved young adults and youth.
“I recognize that there is a certain amount of fear, given that we’ve had these five murders, and I feel that too. I feel that as mayor,” said Mayor Paige Gebhardt Cognetti.
Senior citizen Joan Hodowanitz recalled a time when homicides were rare in the city.
“I’m old enough to remember years in Scranton when there were no homicides and if we had even had one in a five-year period, it was shocking,” Hodowanitz said Tuesday during the Scranton City Council’s weekly meeting .
‘Five murders in less than five months? There’s something wrong here.’
People often feel unsafe after a wave of homicides, even though they aren’t necessarily at greater risk, said Michael Jenkins, chairman of the University of Scranton’s department of criminal justice, cybersecurity and sociology.
Drugs, gangs and domestic violence are more likely to cause homicides than random acts, Jenkins said. At least three of the five murders this year involved suspects who knew the victims before the crimes.
“In terms of the risk that everyday people face of becoming a victim, I think the homicides in cities like Scranton have a vastly disproportionate impact on people’s perception of safety,” Jenkins said.
According to the Pennsylvania Uniform Crime Reporting System, homicides in Scranton per year over the past five years include:
2019: 0
2020: 2
2021: 1
2022: 1
2023:3
By comparison, five murders this year is already startling.
The circumstances of the crime also play a role in the public perception of safety.
For example, in the March 7 incident, a robbery suspect, wearing a black garbage bag on his body and partially over his face, walked through the front door of the store and without saying a word shot a random customer in the head.
The Gilmartin shooting two months earlier also surprised and unnerved the community. A suspect walked up to an unmarked police sedan and fired five bullets into the car, hitting Gilmartin twice.
That on-the-job shooting and the series of murders that followed have raised fears and questions about the city’s safety.
Hodowanitz urged the City Council to “take a hard look” at whether the city police department is properly staffed, staffed, trained and budgeted.
“If this trend continues, it will not only endanger the public, but also our police officers,” Hodoantiz said. “You can’t send them out to deal with a situation like that with only half the resources they need.”
Cognetti said her administration is looking into whether the city should add more police officers.
“That’s what we’re looking at,” Cognetti said. “We continue to look at whether there are things we need to do to increase the police budget. If additional features are needed, we will absolutely push them forward as needed. And also what tools they need.”
Her administration added the position of deputy chief of police and a position in public safety information technology, she said.
The Street Crimes Unit has also long been attacking gang and drug issues and “we continue to innovate with their priorities and they continue to change their tactics given the situation on the ground,” the mayor said.
The city has also modernized the police eligibility test and the number of applicants has now returned to pre-pandemic levels, she said.
Arbitration last year removed a residency requirement for police officers. The city also removed an Act 120 requirement in 2020. With the help of government funding, the city is now sending people who do not yet have an Act 120 certification to a training academy.
“We continue to invest in our police department,” Cognetti said.
“But there’s so much more to it,” she added, pointing to other ongoing efforts. The city has a youth engagement council with a youth subcommittee. The city will soon request proposals from non-governmental nonprofit organizations to shape a violence intervention program. An entity would be managed by a full-time individual who is not a city employee but who works in violence intervention.
“We are addressing this issue from every possible angle,” Cognetti said.
