Were there no social workers available? No violence interrupters?

Let’s call in a mediator, friend, and then point you to some long- and short-term job opportunities

In Indiana, a legally armed drive shoots, kills gunman, stopping shooting spree

As Hayes was chasing the second cemetery worker, one of his bullets whizzed into the vehicle of an unidentified good Samaritan who was stopped at a red light near the intersection, injuring him, the Indianapolis Star reported.

That man stepped out of the car, returned fire with a legal weapon and fatally struck Hayes.

“This tragic event could have been much more disastrous,” Brownsburg Police Capt. Jennifer Barrett told WISH. “Victim three not only saved victim two’s life, but he saved potentially the lives of many others. Victim three did exactly what anybody would have wanted him to do at that scene that day.”

Related:

Yesterday Mayor de Blasio introduced his solution to the soaring murder rate in Fun City. But:

Ife Charles, a violence interrupter with the SOS Bed Stuy program, appeared at the mayor’s Wednesday press briefing to explain the work she does and how she plans to address the shootings that have left her neighborhood reeling.

“Part of this work, people have this notion that it happens immediately. It does not,” she said Wednesday, as the mayor looked on.

Charles then used the example of a woman who now works with her as taking “years” to reach.

“She’s actually working with us,” she said. “But it took years of us having conversations and her doing trial and error.”

The fellow whose life was saved in Indiana is probably thankful that de Blasio isn’t in charge out there, and even in New York, some of the mayor’s critics remain skeptical:

The mayor’s approach — one where he highlights violence interrupters and seems to downplay the NYPD — is one that criminal justice experts are now starting to notice — and question.

Maki Haberfeld, a professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said that while there are merits to the methods used by violence interrupters — also know as the Cure Violence movement — the mayor is making a mistake in placing so much emphasis on them in the wake of recent shootings.

“I have never seen such an uninformed and uneducated approach than I’ve seen in the last four months from him,” she said. “To come up with this soft approach during this spike in violence, this is not the time. A soft approach is once you mitigate the problem, and then you try to prevent it in the future.”

Methods used by violence interrupters include mediating disputes between gang members before they turn violent, offering mental health services and pointing at-risk people to long- and short-term job opportunities. [emphasis added-ed]

Haberfeld said while those methods can be effective, overemphasizing them sends the wrong message to police, criminals and to the public, including the families of victims mourning the loss of a loved one.

“He’s just oblivious to what’s happening. People who make tons of money selling drugs — they’re not going to be dissuaded by you talking softly to them,” she said. “I don’t think — I know. This is my profession. I know based on research I’ve been doing for the past 30 years.”