Balloons and candles were placed at the intersection of N. 3rd and Kelker streets, where 17-year-old Tay’Andre Warren was killed in November 2022.

Tiana Goodson was 10 years older than her brother Tyshaun Darden-White, but despite the age gap, they were always very close.

“Since he was born, it was just me and him,” she said. “We were best friends.”

Even though Darden-White had five kids of his own, he also took time to mentor Goodson’s son, giving him work experience. Everyone in their family was drawn to his friendly, upbeat personality. He was also very handy and a hard worker, Goodson recalled. Darden-White had started his own hauling and junk removal business, “Mr. Nice Guy.”

Goodson remembers everything about the day her brother was shot and killed. She was the first one in her family to find out, but it would take months before she would be able to process the reality of it all.

“It gave me nightmares for a long time,” she said. “It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever had to go through. There’s not a day that goes by that I’m not thinking about him.”

Darden-White was shot on Jan. 28 near N. 16^th and Ethel streets in Harrisburg. He was one of the first homicides of 2022, but, throughout the year, many other lives would be taken by violence.

Tyshaun Darden-White. Photo provided by family.

Last year in Harrisburg, there were 23 homicides, the highest number the city has seen in years. This past year’s number of killings just topped 2020’s 22 homicides. In 2021, the bureau logged 14 homicides.

“That’s a whole lot of homicides; that’s a whole lot of families mourning for their loved ones,” said Police Commissioner Thomas Carter during an interview with TheBurg.

While Carter didn’t point to any one reason that the number of deaths was so high last year, he explained how the availability of guns has continued to play a significant role in the violence.

In 2022, police confiscated 259 illegal firearms in Harrisburg, a number similar to the 268 that they collected in 2021.

Carter also noted the prevalence of “straw purchasing,” an illegal act when someone buys a gun for someone else, often for someone who is prohibited from possessing one.

As homicides continued to take place throughout the city, the bureau implemented a saturation detail several months ago in certain high-crime areas. The strategy includes putting more officers on the streets from the bureau’s street crimes unit, the Pennsylvania State Police and the Pennsylvania Capitol Police, among other agencies. The saturation detail is still active, Carter said.

“They’ve done an excellent job,” he said. “They’ve stopped a lot of stuff and removed a lot of guns off the streets.”

Out of the 23 homicides last year, the bureau has solved 18 of them, totaling a 78% clearance rate for the year.

Bureau officials explained the importance of the community’s assistance in solving cases. Police noted, for example, the significant number of community tips that helped lead to their most recent arrest of the man who killed 53-year-old Stacey Shannon in Harrisburg’s Sunken Gardens park in December.

“We can only do so much by way of collecting video and things like that,” said police Capt. Terry Wealand at a press conference regarding the arrest, on Monday. “A lot of it is people sending in tips. We put the case up on CRIMEWATCH, and what information we can put out there and people will respond to it. That goes a long way toward our solvability.”

However, not every case yields the same amount of community assistance, according to police. Five homicides from 2022 remain unsolved, including Darden-White’s case.

“My biggest question is ‘why?’” said Darden-White’s sister, Tiana Goodson. “It’s a year later, and we still have heard nothing.”

The bureau hopes to improve its ability to prevent and solve homicides through forthcoming technology upgrades. In December, the city announced that it received over $3.3 million in two grants from the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency to purchase equipment and hire staff.

The funds will support the purchase of a license plate reader to find those suspected of illegal activity, a laser scanner to improve crime scene processing and shot spotter technology to improve gunshot detection. With the money, over the next two years, the bureau also plans to purchase hundreds of new porch lights and 200 doorbell cameras. Porch light and camera locations have not yet been decided.

Harrisburg City Council still must vote on the grant appropriations.

Additionally, in December 2021, Harrisburg received a $500,000 grant from the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency for violence prevention efforts. The grant requires the city to contract with the Research Foundation of the City University of New York, on behalf of the National Network for Safe Communities (NNSC) at John Jay College, for two years. The organization will advise Harrisburg on group violence intervention (GVI) strategies. The city will hold meetings with members of violent groups, giving them the option to either receive help and stop the violence or  face consequences.

Goodson has big-picture thoughts on how to reduce violence, like tightening gun restrictions and requiring more extensive background checks for firearm purchasing.

But for her, and those like her who were left deeply impacted by the violence of the year, one of the most tangible ways to bring change is through sharing her brother’s story.

“I’m always going to speak my brother’s name,” she said. “So many things can be resolved without going to guns. It needs to get out there; people need to know this is going on. He’s truly, extremely missed, but we will never let his memory die.”

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