St. Paul community members to exchange olive branches in honor of homicide victims

With violence on the rise, St. Paul community members plan to come together next week to exchange 34 olive branches, one for every homicide victim in the city last year.

Paul Langenfeld, the event’s organizer, said he hopes to start a grassroots movement promoting safety and respect.

"Violence is to a city what fever is to a body, both are symptoms of an underlying sickness. You have to treat the symptoms but you have to cure the illness," Langenfeld said.

He added that if everybody does their part, things will start to change.

The olive branch exchange is scheduled for Monday at 6 p.m. at Lexington Plaza.