Villages at Roll Hill neighbor speaks

This year in Hamilton County, 15 juveniles have been charged with murder, more than were charged in the last four years combined. Why the increase? 'Kids Who Kill,' The Enquirer's series on juvenile violence, continues with this conversation.

Aurelia Persley has lived at the Villages at Roll Hill, a housing complex in East Westwood, for the past five years. She has two children, ages 1 and 8.  

Enquirer reporter Brooke Endale: You’ve shared your worries about the gun violence at a community meeting before. What made you decide to speak out?

Aurelia Persley: I'm getting sick and tired of these things going on and nothing is being resolved. What's going to happen with these kids? People keep shooting and I'm tired. I try my best to make sure everything is OK and safe for my kids to walk around.

Has it been scarier this past year?

Yes. When is this going to stop? I’ve lost a family member to this. Nothing's being taken care of. People are dying. People just keep getting killed for no reason. I miss her so much. Some of the time I don't even go up the street to the store where all the shooting happens. I’ll get ready to leave and I’ll catch myself because there's no need for me to go up there, well unless I really need something.

Do your kids play outside?

When my son is here, I’ll just keep him playing at home. It’s better that way. I don’t like to have him playing outside. I can’t have something happen to him. It’s crazy. It’s so crazy. And all I can do is pray. I pray for them. I’ve been up here for so long and I have not been caught in one of the shootings. I'm so thankful that I haven't.

What happens when you hear gunshots?

I just run back inside. I don't come out as much. I try to go out during certain times because I know they’re probably not shooting. But they could be shooting any time. There was one time I was just taking the trash out and I heard gunshots. I had to run back inside so quickly. 

What happened?

I had waited for a while until everything had cleared down before I went back outside. Then the police were already there, they just were sitting there. There was tape all around that street. Thank God, nobody got hurt. But they said they were shooting back and forth and some people were shooting back and forth.

How often do you hear gunshots?

Every night, you'll hear them shooting just for fun. And I'm like, that's not fun if you have kids walking around here. I know if anything was to happen to my kid, I would be to blame. When I first started living here, it wasn't as bad. When you get to know it a lot more, you find it, you start figuring out things. 

Do you worry about getting him to and from school, too?

They had to block my son's school off a few times because of the shootings. Last time, they had to put helicopters flying around the school because someone had shot someone up there by the store and they were trying to find the guy who shot the person up there by the store. I just don’t let him walk home by himself or anything like that. 

What do you think you can do about any of this?

I pray.

What do you tell your son?

My son, he knows a lot of things that are going on. I say, they're doing something bad, and we can’t go outside now. He just, yeah, he understands, he's smart. He understands. And he understands a lot of stuff at his age, to be just 8.