(NewsNation) — Philadelphia’s Kensington neighborhood is known as America’s largest open-air drug market.
There are people on drugs and drugs everywhere.
But change could come with the city’s district attorney race next week. That’s something community activist Roz Pichardo is watching closely.
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“We definitely need people to understand we have already lost enough in this city. Change is definitely needed,” she said.
NewsNation first spoke to Pichardo in 2022, when she was walking around Philly with a tourniquet to save gunshot victims.
“I just used one last Thursday. I was at the hair salon getting my hair done, and there was a shooting,” Pichardo said then.
Things haven’t improved since.
Now, District Attorney Larry Krasner is being challenged by former judge Pat Dugan.
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Krasner has come under fire recently for his handling of the death of Kada Scott, a young woman allegedly killed by a man Krasner previously allowed to get out of jail on a different kidnapping charge.
“The person who was arrested, he had a previous history of kidnapping,” Pichardo said. “I want him to be more for families of homicide victims and harsher sentences. Just get people arrested and charged properly.”
Even Pichardo, who identifies as a staunch Democrat, is not happy about Krasner’s history when it comes to prosecuting homicides.
That’s why Democrat district attorneys around the country will be watching Philly so closely Tuesday.
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Former Philadelphia Sgt. Mark Fusetti says yes.
“This is an ongoing issue with this office. It has been going on for years, the world is just getting to see it now because of this beautiful young woman taken away. Preventable,” Fusetti said.
