Hundreds gathered at the Reid Centre in Mount Pearl last evening to discuss two recent attacks that sent two men to hospital with serious injuries and what communities can do to stay safe.

The wife of one of the victims says her husband was hit with a baseball bat outside Morris Academy where he was picking up his kids from an after school program.

Bailey Rempel detailed the impact of the attack on her husband and her family, and called on both the city and the RNC to do better.

“The RNC response time was in the range of 20 minutes,” says Rempel, “while my husband sheltered in a house and my children sheltered in a school. Myself and others arrived long before the RNC.” She was also taken aback by comments made by a responding officer. “Be it due to lack of training, underfunding, a demoralized workforce, or worst case, complacency, a responding RNC officer informed my husband and me that the RNC would be ‘unlikely to apprehend these individuals’. At that moment, on that street, another individual was attacked by the same group.”

RNC Constable James Cadigan was on hand last night along with the Chief and the Deputy Chief of the RNC. He says the call came in at 5:41 that day. The officers were dispatched at 5:42, arrived at the scene at 5:48 and searched the area on Roosevelt based on the information they had at the time. “A short time later we received a report of a second event, and the investigation expanded.” The priority, says Cadigan was ensuring that those injured were receiving the appropriate care.

Rempel also had a message to the city itself.

“To the councillors and mayor of Mount Pearl we’ve heard your platitudes, but I ask what have you done to improve public safety in your city?”