KALAMAZOO, Mich. — Kalamazoo has been dealing with a public health crisis that has taken lives and left many still battling the effects of gun violence. This year, they're making progress.
Rick Omilian remembers a day that changed his family forever. “He was very controlling and wouldn't accept the breakup of the relationship that she thought she had made final,” he said.
On Oct. 18, 1999, their daughter Maggie Wardle, a sophomore at Kalamazoo College, was shot and killed by her ex-boyfriend, who then took his own life.
"First thing I think of in the morning is Maggie, [and she's] the last thing I think about before I go to bed,” said Martha Omilian, Maggie's mother.
According to Assistant Chief David Juday, gun violence rose nationwide around the time of the pandemic. In 2021, the Kalamazoo City Commission declared gun violence a public health crisis.
"I believe it's because of the resources that were available and some of the social services that were available, you know, kind of had to come to a stop,” Juday told FOX 17.
By the end of 2023, Kalamazoo reached a grim milestone with 22 total homicides, 15 of which were caused by gun violence.
“From January 1 to present, we had 42 non-fatal shootings and 15 homicides,” Juday reported.
Despite the grim statistics, the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety has implemented 12 different gun-violence-reduction strategies and is seeing progress.
“One of the important gun-violence-reduction strategies that we do is prisoner reentry visits. We want to make sure that when people are being released from prison, they're going to be successful,” Juday said.
So far this year, the city has recorded six homicides, five of which were caused by gun violence. “We can celebrate these small wins, but like I said, we have to keep our foot on the gas, and we have to continue these efforts weekly,” he added.
Community members and local organizations have also played a crucial role in the downward trend of violence. “What we found is it's so important that each individual entity has to kind of stay in their lane, but there has to be open communication of what's going on,” Juday told FOX 17.
For Rick and Martha Omilian, seeing the violence decrease is all they can hope for. “I’ve always thought, you know, what if these groups all got together? There’s strength in numbers, and that’s starting to happen,” Martha said.
Her daughter Maggie, who “just cared so much about other people and people who needed help,” is the catalyst for her family’s fight against gun violence.
“We've been trying to work ever since then to deal with gun violence, especially in our community, and especially domestic and dating violence,” Rick told FOX 17.
“Maggie can't have died for nothing,” Maggie said.
In an effort to further curb gun violence, U.S. Attorney for the Western District Mark Totten has launched the Safe Summer 2024 program in Kalamazoo. This initiative kicked off on Memorial Day and will run through Labor Day.
Follow FOX 17: Facebook - X (formerly Twitter) - Instagram - YouTube
