After speaking about the Riverchase Galleria shooting and the death of Emantic “E.J.” Bradford, Jr., Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin challenged activists to help with the plague of violence in Birmingham.

According to ABC 33/40, Woodfin said, “Right now, all of my energy is spent on concern and empathy and sympathy for his parents. They deserve a transparent process. They deserve full candor and honesty of whatever has happened. All of my thoughts, all of my prayers are with his family.”

The network reported, “Mayor Woodfin also addressed the need to end violence across the metro [area], calling on social activists to help.”

Woodfin outlined, “If the activists have another idea, a better idea to decrease the violence that we are seeing from people — from motorists driving around with illegal guns — tell me so we can do it. In the meantime, we’re going to continue to enforce the laws and engage citizens in a way where we are not infringing upon the rights, but making sure we’re keeping people safe.”

Woodfin’s comments, which were made on Wednesday, came exactly one year after his inauguration as mayor.

Sean Ross is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn