Ministers respond to Columbus homicides: ‘This is a spiritual problem’

Standing not far from Columbus’ most recent homicide, a group of local ministers bowed their heads in prayer and called for the community to return to God.

Members of the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance made the plea while holding a news conference at 32nd Street near Fifth Avenue. The location is near apartments where Columbus police arrested a man Tuesday in connection with the fatal shooting of 33-year-old Tamir Harris in the North Highlands neighborhood.

Brandon Jarrell Senior, 31, was charged with one count of murder, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime.

The third Columbus homicide in three days, the shooting drew a crowd to Fourth Avenue before the suspect was in custody.

“We are here to express our disdain for for the violence that’s occurring in our community, the anarchy that is so before us,” said the Rev. Ralph Huling, president of the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance on Thursday. “We just know that as a community we can do better, and we realize today that this is a spiritual problem, and it’s from that angle that we seek a solution. We recognize that we have to get a solution and receive a solution from God, being our helper.”

Huling said the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance is soliciting help from churches throughout Columbus as it tries to stop the violence.

“We’re going to ask them to invoke special prayer for the violence to stop, for it to be curbed,” he said. “We’re going to ask them to work with us as we try to implement programs. ... We have some things that we’re going to do immediately as it relates to the crime and anarchy that’s existing in our community.”

Other ministers who spoke at the news conference included the Rev. Andrea Franklin of True Vine Ministries, and the Rev. Johnny Flakes III of Fourth Street Missionary Baptist Church.

Franklin called for families to return to church and hold each other accountable.

“When families come together, it gives us a greater respect to love one another, to pray together,” she said. “... Take your families to church and also the community organizations that we have, like the Boys and Girls Club, and interact with the police department to know that they’re our friend, not our enemy.”

Flakes stressed the importance of civility, unity and respect for life.

“There’s so much that’s going on within the media that says that life is not as valuable as it once was,” he said. “... Whenever there is beef among young men, young brothers — the casting of shade — instead of allowing that to be divisive, instead of allowing that to cause conflict, what we need to do is get back to talking about how we can resolve that. We need to make sure that that does not divide our community.”

This story was originally published August 24, 2017 at 8:02 PM with the headline "Ministers respond to Columbus homicides: ‘This is a spiritual problem’."