New Haven Independent

One high school freshman, who did not want her name used and who declined to be photographed said she knew the victim, Maurice Nicholson, 17, who attended Hamden High, though not well. “My friends saw it happen,” she said. “There’s so much violence — it’s sad.”

Nicholson was shot multiple times outside a barber shop. Three young men were seen running from the scene.

Still, most of the youngsters at the event — from preschoolers to high schoolers — either weren’t aware of the latest homicide in the city, or were able to focus on the matter at hand, which was to provide a fun, family-friendly way to raise money for the Youth Council to take its members to this year’s national NAACP convention. This year happens to be the organization’s centennial, and happens to be the organization’s first convention held while an African-American is U.S. president.

Karrol-Ann Brown, who heads the council (pictured on the left, with ticket seller Adrien Esdaile, wife of state NAACP leader Scot X Esdaile) said since the convention will be held in New York City July 11-16, she plans to take teens in and out of the city each day on the Metro-North train, thus saving on hotel accommodations.

Mark Brown, a junior at West Haven High, and Common Ground High School sophomore Morice Smalls (pictured left and right at top of the story), were too focused on their chess game to talk to a reporter. After it ended (Smalls won), Brown said they came to help out and to raise a little money for the convention. He said he’d been to previous NAACP gatherings. He said he and his friends are “big Obama supporters” and excited that he’s in the White House.

At another table, Michael Alexander was gleefully dropping plastic chips into slots as he played Connect Four with a friend.

Tiffany Goodridge, a freshman at Wilbur Cross, was a volunteer overseeing Taboo, who decided to play a round herself while waiting for younger kids to come over.

And in the back of the room, Christine Ferguson, 6, a student at St. Francis School in Fair Haven, was having the time of her life at the old party staple, Twister.