'Combustion Of Anxiety': Councilwoman Katherine Gilmore Richardson Recalls Being In Middle Of West Philadelphia Chaos

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Local leaders are calling for an end to the vandalism and looting instead of encouraging peaceful protests. City Councilwoman Katherine Gilmore Richardson was in the middle of some of the chaos in West Philadelphia Sunday afternoon.

She posted a Facebook Live video urging looters to stop.

Gilmore Richardson has lived in Philadelphia her whole life and tells CBS3 what she witnessed Sunday afternoon was "disheartening and heart-wrenching."

"Being out in the communities that were most adversely impacted, where I live, it was heart-wrenching. It was just disheartening to see what was happening to our community," Gilmore Richardson said. "I think it's really important we focus on what happened but we have to also talk about the conditions that got us to this point."

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The councilwoman says it's hard to determine if the looters are residents in the city or from out-of-town, but while she was out in her community, she did not recognize a lot of the individuals.

"But I will say again, we have to focus on the conditions. The young people that were out yesterday, I saw certain combustion of anxiety over what happened to not only George Floyd, but what happened to Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Sean Reed in Indianapolis, Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia, and it's time for us to focus on irradiating poverty, systematic oppression, institutional racism, and inequities in our society so that we will never be at a moment like this again," Gilmore Richardson said.

Gilmore Richardson has a message for the looters and rioters:

"We are willing to listen to you. We want to hear from you, figure out how we can all work together to rebuild the city and to ensure that we are all doing all we can to be committed to the change. We want to see it in Philadelphia, not only through community-driven action, but through legislative action so we can see long-term systematic change here in Philadelphia. We are willing to hear from you so we can be the change we want to see together."

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE FOR THE FULL INTERVIEW.