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Mayor Tells Concerned Mt. Pleasant Neighborhood that Healing will be Painful

The Mt. Olive Missionary Baptist Church is just blocks from the home where Anthony Sowell is suspected of killing 11 women. And, among the concerned residents in its pews were some of the family members of the victims. Earlier in the week, the mayor was criticized for not saying enough about the tragedies, but to this group, he spoke slowly and solemnly as he said this will be a painful healing process.

JACKSON: I know that everyone in here can identify with the family and victims. That all of us in our families, all of us including me, have someone who could have been there.

Jackson said the community must stay focused, and save questions about whether the police did enough for when the investigation is over.

Police Chief Michael McGrath urged families with missing persons to come forward, especially if they fit the profile of African American women between the ages of 21 and 60. And, he said police, government, clergy, and the public need to work together to stop this kind of tragedy from happening again.

McGRATH: Across this nation, there’s an attitude out there that we have to adjust, and the only way we’re going to do that is to do it together.