Examining Time-Variant Spatial Dependence of Urban Places and Shootings

Place-based interventions are increasingly implemented to address firearm violence. While research on the social determinants of health and criminological theories suggest that the built environment significantly influences health outcomes and the spatial distribution of crime, little is known about the attraction between urban places and shootings. The present study adds to the literature on firearm violence and micro-place research by exploring the spatial dependence in a Midwest metropolitan area between shootings and bus stops, vacant properties, alcohol outlets, and other locations that have been theoretically or empirically linked to firearm violence. The G-function and Cross-K function are used to characterize the univariate clustering of shootings and bivariate attraction with other locations, respectively. Bus stops, blighted vacant properties, alcohol outlets, and businesses/residential locations participating in a public-private-community initiative to reduce crime exhibited significant locational dependence with shootings at short distances. Attraction between on-premises alcohol outlets and shootings was observed only during the night. No attraction was found between schools and shootings. The findings reaffirm the importance of place-based research-especially at the micro-place level-and suggest that certain urban places may be appropriate targets for interventions that modify existing physical and/or social structures.