NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
LEWISTON, Maine — A New England town transformed by an influx of refugees and immigrants is now grappling with a crisis of youth gun violence, as police report 35 gun-related incidents this year, including 22 involving minors.
“I don’t feel safe. I’m afraid for my life,” Mohamed Muhumed, a teenager from Lewiston, told Fox News Digital. “I saw someone get hit in the middle of the sidewalk there. It’s crazy.”
The city, Maine’s second-most populous city and home to a large population of refugees from Somalia and other African countries, has a serious youth gun violence problem. Lewiston Police Chief Carly Conley called gun violence “one of the most serious public safety challenges” facing the city.
AN EXPLOSIVE SLEEP PROBLEM RAGING IN THIS Maine Town Could Fuel Midterm Upheaval
Jon Fetherston, a reporter for the conservative-leaning newspaper The Maine Wire who has spoken extensively on the issue, told Fox News Digital that “gun violence in Lewiston is very concerning. The majority… has been committed by teenagers… On several occasions, teenagers have been arrested and immediately released by the courts back onto the streets.”
“The justice systems are strained. The prosecutor is frustrated that the courts are not putting these kids in jail…Residents are scared. Residents are very, very frustrated, and there are kids shooting kids, and it’s almost become commonplace here in Lewiston,” Fetherston said.
City officials responded by approving an additional $200,000 in police overtime funding to expand patrols and enforcement. They also called for changes to Maine’s juvenile justice system, including more options for dealing with violent repeat offenders and more scrutiny before the release of high-risk juveniles.
Mayor Carl Sheline said in a statement last month that the increased resources “send a strong message to those who commit gun violence: We will find you.”
But he added: “Parental involvement and responsibility are essential to reducing youth gun violence in our city. »
MAINE NPO WITH SOMALI TIES LOSE STATE FUNDING
Lewiston, Maine is the second most populous city in the state. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)
Republican Rick LaChapelle, a former city council president and current mayoral candidate, told Fox News Digital, “Our biggest problem is the system itself.
“It has always been a one-party rule that has set up rules that there is no accountability,” LaChapelle argued. “We need to change the rules of the system.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Sheline to discuss his efforts in combating gun violence, but the mayor did not respond as of the time this article was published.
No official city or police data indicates that Somali residents as a group are behind the violence, or links it to the increase. But LaChapelle said, “It appears to be the one being arrested right now.”
Mohamed Adbei, a teenager who spoke to Fox News Digital on the streets of Lewiston, dismissed any ethnic connection: “I wouldn’t just say it’s the Somali kids. It’s the youth in general.”
Ifraax Saciid, a Somali native who lived in Atlanta before moving to Lewiston, agreed.
SUBSCRIBE TO RECEIVE THE POLITICS NEWSLETTER
“No, that’s not the root cause. I think the root cause is poverty here in Lewiston. Lewiston is very poor and its economic situation is not good,” she said when asked if there was a direct link to the Somali community. “I think what’s happening here is happening everywhere. It’s happening in Atlanta. I’ve lived in Miami, Ohio, Kentucky and Minnesota and I’ve seen what’s happening in those states also happening here in Lewiston. It’s nothing new.”
Lewiston has also been an epicenter in recent years for fraud scandals involving Maine’s joint federal-state Medicaid program.
Saciid emphasized that “fraud is happening all over the United States and with all skin colors, all social classes. It is not particularly tied to any one people.”
The Somali influx into Lewiston began a quarter-century ago, when refugees and secondary migrants began settling in the former industrial town along the Androscoggin River, seeking safe neighborhoods and affordable housing.
DEMOCRACY ’26: STAY UP TO DATE WITH THE FOX NEWS ELECTION HUB
Lisbon Street in downtown Lewiston, Maine. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)
Larry Raymond, then mayor, gained national attention in 2002 after asking Somali leaders to discourage further migration to Lewiston, arguing that the rapid influx was straining the city’s resources.
Fast forward to the present day and Lewiston has one of the highest per capita Muslim populations in the country, most of them Somalis as well as refugees from other African countries.
Fetherston argued that “history has proven him (Raymond) right…that it was too much, too fast because a lot of things have changed in Lewiston. And things aren’t working in Lewiston.”
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
LaChapelle noted, “I’m French Canadian, so my ancestors came here…We need legal immigration to America.” We must grow.
But he added: “We just have to do it logically and legally. When my ancestors came here, there was no free gravy all the way. Now we support everyone. We’ve done it for 30 years, there are still people who are still on the welfare system 30 years later. That has to change.”
Gn usa
