LOWELL — An executive session of the City Council scheduled for Tuesday has gained new urgency following what was likely a drug deal gone awry in a summer plagued with gun violence.

The shooting of a 19-year-old man in the chest at 10 Burton St. in South Lowell Thursday night gives even greater importance to the upcoming closed-door briefing between Police Superintendent William Taylor and the council, who will be discussing new strategies to combat violence and drug trafficking.

Although the incident is still under investigation, Taylor said it is possible the shooting was related to a drug deal, and that illegal gun trafficking may have contributed to the violence.

The high price of marijuana in particular is a contributing factor in much drug-related violence, he said.

“We’ve seen an increase in demand and also the monetary reward for people involved in distribution of marijuana,” Taylor said. “It certainly is of great concern because there is a lot of money to be made in the distribution of marijuana, and with increase in demand that’s very much a concern.”

This summer, the Lowell Police Department has increased patrols and bolstered its investigative units to try to combat these problems in a summer that has seen much higher than normal levels of gun violence, Taylor said. He’s hoping Tuesday’s meeting will help set a direction for the city’s efforts to fight illegal guns and the drug trade.

“I think we’re going to have a discussion and highlight a strategy to the City Council that we believe will be hopefully successful to try to address the issue of increased gun violence and the proliferation of illegal firearms in our community,” Taylor said.

Mayor Rodney Elliott also said illegal gun trafficking has played a major role in the increase in violence this summer.

“We need to come together and say this requires legislation on a national level,” Elliott said.

Elliott said he has reached out to several mayors, including Boston Mayor Marty Walsh and Lawrence Mayor Dan Rivera, to hold a summit at the end of September to address drug, gun and gang violence.

“We’re going to be relentless in our crusade against drug and gun violence,” he said. “We’re going to take back our city, block by block.”

City Manager Kevin Murphy also said the problems of drug trafficking and illegal firearms has become widespread.

“It’s just out of control,” Murphy said. “It’s not just Lowell.”

The victim in Thursday night’s shooting, who was taken to Lowell General Hospital and later transported to Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, will recover from his injuries, police said.

Near the scene of the shooting, neighbors were unsettled by the outbreak of violence.

“I did hear a gunshot, but only one gunshot,” said Phyllis Harris-Swenson, a resident of Burton Street. She was watching TV and reading when the shooting occurred, but figured it was fireworks.

“We’ve got the quietest neighborhood,” said Harris-Swenson. Aside from some scrap copper piping taken from her yard some time ago, Harris-Swenson said crime is rarity on Burton Street.

“The whole neighborhood is up in arms,” said Wade, a Burton Street resident who did not want his last name published. “People were out here in their bath robes until midnight.”

Wade had a security system with cameras installed on his home after $5,000 worth of tools were stolen from him. Those cameras may have captured images of the suspects, he said.

Wade said he had no doubts that the shooting was gang-related.

“It’s gang-related. They had a purpose,” Wade said. “They need to crack down on the gangs hard to get it to stop.”

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Staff writer Chelsea Feinstein contributed to this report.