ROANOKE, VA. – The City of Roanoke is shining a whole lot of light, hoping the newly brightened night sky keeps crime away.
[‘A rough week’: Roanoke’s gun violence task force meets as city sees 7 shootings]
Roanoke Police borrowed three portable light towers from the Virginia Department of Transportation. They’re lights you’d usually see on roadside construction projects. Instead, they’re lighting up downtown parking lots that have been problematic.
The lights are locked in place using gun locks from Project Childsafe, meant to be given out to gun owners.
The lights are a direct response to the firefight in the in the parking lots on the corner of Church and Williamson about a week ago.
[One person hurt in Roanoke’s 7th shooting in 7 days]
Police say 50 shots were fired, sending people running for their lives.