Police Chief On Recent Gunfire: 'We Are Very Concerned'

Not everyone was in a joyful mood over the Christmas weekend. Tension and gunshots filled the air as the  responded to four gun-related incidents.

"We are very concerned," told Patch on Tuesday night. "Any time there are shootings, we have to be concerned."

Rilling wouldn't categorize the recent shootings as a "rash" of them, but the frequencey with which they are occurring is alarming. There have been people wounded and shots reportedly fired in the air in these cases:

• A 17-year old male was shot and wounded on the left-side of his body by an unidentified person on Chestnut Street on Christmas Eve.
• A mother and son getting out of their car near Burrick and Woodward Avenue reported to police they heard five shots being fired from a silver BMW on Christmas Eve. Police investigating the scene did not find any shell casings in the area.
• Two people went to Norwalk Hospital with gunshot wounds on Christmas Day. An investigation is on-going.
• Monday night, an officer responded to a location on South Main Street after hearing . People interviewed on the scene said a white sedan was in the area and they believed the occupants fired at a house in the area.

Rilling says that all the incidents have been investigated, but admits officers sometimes hit roadblocks because people are not cooperative.

"Sometimes we don't get a lot of information and that can make it tough," said Rilling. "We need people to be the eyes and ears of the neighbohoods. The information they give us will be confidential."

A person who lives near Woodward Avenue, but declined to be identified, told Patch, "This area is getting out of hand and completely ignored - what is going on? Why aren't there constant patrols of this neighborhood?"

The Norwalk resident continued by saying, "this violence needs to end and someone needs to make noise about it all happening, the drug havens and selling and the cops knowing of separate shootings and were no where to be found in the neighborhood."

Rilling responded to a question about patrols in the areas of the shootings by stating that "there are patrols deployed to those areas and undercover officers are used to try to get information." He reiterated that people just haven't been cooperative when it comes to dispensing information about the shootings.

told Patch last week that he realized that while crime statistics may be down for the year,  perception becomes reality when it comes to gun shots ringing throughout the city more frequently.

"When you have shootings and it effects certain people, crime stats don't mean anything, I understand that," he said. "I'm hoping, depending on the budget, that we can add one or two more cops to the payroll. A lot of areas, especially in SoNo, they're going to have to help and work to take back the streets."

Rilling defended the actions of the police department when it comes to trying to prevent gunfire.

"We have made a significant numbers of arrests, taking people and firearms off the streets," he stated.