DES MOINES- Police are still attempting to solve six of Des Moines’ thirteen homicides in 2016.
Monday morning, Rhenna Mure was getting home from Christmas shopping with her two grandkids and mother when shots rang Monday morning.
“The door was open and pow!” said Mure. “It was close to hitting my mom, sitting in the passenger seat where the bullet went through the door. It’s scary.”
Mure is the mother of Troy Mure, who was sentenced to 15 years in prison in July for vehicular homicide. Mure was the driver in a high-speed crash that killed his then-girlfriend Scalicity Perez.
Since then, Rhenna Mure’s car and home have been shot at four separate times.
“I don’t know if it’s a gang issue but a gun issue. Everybody got a gun,” said Mure.
Des Moines Police say it could be both.
“Do we have a gang problem? No. Do we have a gang presence? Yes, there are times we see and hear that presence a lot more than other times,” said Sgt. Paul Parizek, Des Moines Police.
Right now, six of this year’s thirteen homicides are unsolved. From 14-year-old Yore Jieng to 55-year-old grandmother Barbara Perry, all the unsolved cases have involved guns.
“The past 20 years we haven’t touched the fifty percent mark,” said Sgt. Parizek. “Probably the most significant factor is a lack of cooperative witnesses. We have no lack of people who’ve seen what happened.”
Many times, Sgt. Parizek says there’s what police call “gang-impact” involved.
For example, Barbara Perry was sitting in a car with her grandkids when shots were fired in the Family Dollar Parking lot in September. Police believe the shots were intended for someone else in the car, but instead, they struck Perry in the head and killed her.
“We see the same names, over and over again. Same witness, victim, suspect and some of those are gang-impacted, whether they’re gang members or peripherally involved in that culture,” said Parizek.
Des Moines Police have taken more guns off the streets than they have in years past.
From January to September of 2015, police confiscated, seized or found 243 guns. In the same months of 2016, that number jumped to 414.
From January to September of 2015, police responded to calls for service, gun shots, shootings or shots fired (including fireworks) 681 times. In 2016, that number is at 917 with three months left in the year.
“Guns ain’t the answer, jail’s not the answer. You got to do something different, a job,” said Mure.
Mure said she wants her kids to grow old and not live in fear.
Sgt, Parizek and Mure said the culture can change away from guns and gun violence.
“I don’t want them to retaliate to go do what somebody is doing to us. It’s not a way for anybody to live. To go shoot back, you don’t know who’s on the other side. I don’t want them to do that.”
Anyone with information in any of the unsolved homicides below should call Des Moines Police or Central Iowa Crime Stoppers at 515-223-1400.
-Yore Jieng, 14, Des Moines, Keo Way & 12th Street
– Barbara Perry, 55, Des Moines, 1200 University at Family Dollar
-Dennis Strable, 59, 45th St. and Kingman Blvd, while on his bike
-Scott Perez, 44, Des Moines, 40th Place & Crooker Street
-Victor Robinson, 41, 3720 MLK Parkway
– Da’Bryan Smith, 20, Euclid Avenue at Git-N-Go
