When we talk about the increase in violence in recent weeks, we tend to focus on large cities; places like New York, Chicago, and similar places. The reason is that there’s much more media attention in those places. What’s happening there gets thrust into the spotlight unlike what transpires in most other places.

We see what we see.

But that doesn’t mean that the violence is isolated. No, far from it. Even much smaller cities are experiencing an uptick in violent crime.

There have been nine shootings in Fall River since June 1. While none were fatal, some involved multiple victims and more than half currently lack a suspect.

On Thursday, Mayor Paul Coogan, Police Chief Jeffrey Cardoza, and Bristol County District Attorney Thomas Quinn III held a news conference to address the recent rash of gun crime.

“All residents of any neighborhood should – at a minimum – be able to live free of violence,” Coogan said.

“Speaking for the members of my organization, we are absolutely appalled by what is going on,” Cardoza said.

The shootings took place in different parts of the city and police say they’ve identified suspects in four of the nine, though not all of them have been arrested.

Most recently, two women were shot Tuesday night in the area of Kennedy Park, one in the head and the other in the legs, according to police. Both are now recovering at the hospital.

Cam actually talked about this incident on Cam & Company on Thursday. The suspects are a father and son team with a…special relationship. I mean, that’s one way to describe a father who made his 14-year-old son commit an armed robbery.

The father only got 18 months probation.

That pathetic punishment matters when we’re looking at this recent spike in violence that’s gripping the nation. It’s one of a number of factors that has to be contributing to what we’ve been seeing.

After all, that June 1 date? That’s shortly after the death of George Floyd, which sparked riots all over the nation.

Now, what happened to George Floyd was a tragedy and, in my opinion, never should have happened. However, this aftermath isn’t just because George Floyd died.

There’s something deeper going on, something troubling.

In part, we have Lord only knows how many potentially violent felons that have been released due to COVID, coupled with embattled police departments all over the nation who simply can’t trust their elected leaders to stand with them, especially after the way Atlanta seemed to sell out officers after the death of Rayshard Brooks.

So you’ve got opportunistic criminals, police who are trying to do their jobs with both hands tied behind their back, and just a general sense of outrage, even among those who don’t deal with politics. It’s not hard to see that we’re dealing with a perfect storm of suck.

The worst part? No one really knows when it’s going to end. This can just keep on going and going until something changes. That means it either simmers down or explodes.

Only one of those is a good thing.