ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Gunshots rang out after a joint press conference by the mayors of St. Louis and Kansas City Friday. They were speaking to reporters after a roundtable discussion about public safety with other community leaders and the Department of Justice in Dutchtown. The gunshots disrupted the press conference, but not Mayor Jones.

Jones kept speaking to reporters after the shots rang out. She explained that the sound of gunshots is something she is used to, something that happens in her neighborhood.

“I don’t flinch when gunshots ring out; my son and I often fall asleep to a lullaby of gunshots,” writes Mayor Jones on Twitter. “Mayor Quinton Lucas, Alderman Shane Cohn, and I joined survivors and The Justice Department for a neighborhood talk and walk to see community violence intervention programs up close.”

Jones said she is glad no one was injured and will continue to work with the neighborhood community programs to help reduce gun violence.

“This is the sort of thing that happens in too many American cities, part of why I’m in St Louis (Friday),” Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas said. “This community is working to do better for our babies like the tour we just took, and the neighborhood activist(s) who are saying maybe things have been always for generations, but we are committed to doing better.”

Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas is in St. Louis to visit with Mayor Tishuara Jones Thursday and Friday. The two-day tour is addressing important issues for both cities with an emphasis on collaboration.

The roundtable discussion was held at the Cure Violence Headquarters on Meramec Street. The leaders then went on a neighborhood walk-through in Dutchtown. That neighborhood utilizes community violence interruption programs to help reduce gun violence.

The organization cure violence is only targeting Dutchtown, Wells Goodfellow, Hamilton Heights, and Walnut Park right now. Each section covers a 10 by 10 block where they work to prevent gun violence.