KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The city is plagued by homicides at a record-setting pace. Now Kansas City leaders are addressing the violence.

During a news conference Wednesday, Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graves said the department responded to seven homicides since Sunday morning.

Graves then called the community to action, asking everyone to together to help stop violent crime and get offenders off the streets.

Mayor Quinton Lucas stood by her side during the request.

“We will not give up and we will never give up on making a safer community. We recognize that I’ve now talked about for four years that this city faces an epidemic of gun violence and violent crime,” Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas said. “We will continue to address it and we will continue to fight it each and every day.”

Lucas announced several events happening throughout the summer to better engage people in the community, especially younger generations, to show them that there are alternatives to violent crime.

“Seven victims in our city in 72 hours. Seven families in our city have been changed forever,” Chief Graves said. “This is a call for action. Our department will continue to show up, but we need the community’s help.”

Graves says the violence is happening throughout the city, under varying circumstances, and age ranges. All city agencies are working together to address the violence through prevention, intervention, and enforcement. 

Lucas says they are seeing results with community partnerships like Partners for Peace but says they can’t fight violent crime alone. 

To solve more crimes and get offenders off the streets, the department has implemented a reward of 25,000 dollars for information that leads to an arrest.