Officials notice rise in violent juvenile offenses involving firearms
EL PASO, Texas (KVIA)-- As the number of crimes involving teens are becoming more common in the borderland, prosecutors have noticed a pattern.
Emily Dawson, Juvenile Prosecution Unit Trial Team Chief in El Paso, said the violent offenses that are occurring are more likely now to be committed with a firearm than they were pre-pandemic.
“It has gone up, over time where before we might see an aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and it would be a knife, it is more likely now to involve a gun," she said.
She said seeing more minors involved in a crime with firearms is alarming.
“Some of them are coming through the streets and they are getting those and those are being traced because they were not legally obtained. In some cases parents do not secure weapons the way that they should and children have gotten access to firearms," said Dawson.
Dawson reminds parents to properly secure their firearms.
“If you are a responsible gun owner who has a firearm and you have children in your home please make sure they don’t have access to that firearm," she said.
