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KPD: 10 homicides reported within mile-and-a-half of Austin-East High School over past year

Three deaths were reported in the past three weeks in Knoxville. All of them were 16 years old and under.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — As the Knoxville community grieves three young lives lost to gun violence, the Knoxville Police Department reports that there have been far more in the last year.

Police said that there have been 10 homicides within a mile-and-a-half of Austin East High School. It's the same school that Janaria Muhammad, Justin Taylor and Stanley Freeman Jr. attended before they were killed.

Now, the school is moving to virtual learning for several days, to give students the chance to grieve. Knoxville Mayor Indya Kincannon and Police Chief Eve Thomas also proposed new measures to combat and prevent violence in East Knoxville on Wednesday.

Police will also be increasing their presence in the community around Austin-East High School, officials said. They will be moving three more school resource officers to the school, and officers will increase their presence with more patrols in hotspots, where "crime is occurring or likely to occur."

"[The people in this neighborhood] are tired of shootings. They want KPD to help catch the bad guys. These are law-abiding people trying to live their lives,” Kincannon said during a briefing on Wednesday.

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