Trequon Lawrence.
Half a year since 27-year-old Trequon Lawrence was murdered, his family is looking to help others grieving over other unsolved homicides.
Lawrence was shot in his blue Genesis G80 sedan Sept. 8 at Newhall and Division streets. The police received notice from the ShotSpotter identification system of 10 gunshots and found ten .9mm casings near the scene. Lawrence was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Lawrence’s grandmother Laverne Watts and mother Pashion Watts-Gaines have founded the Trequon Lawrence Advocacy and Accountability Foundation (TLAAF) in his memory, with a mission of finding preventive solutions to reduce the city’s gun violence.
The co-founders gathered Tuesday evening for the organization’s monthly community meeting, where ideas for curbing gun violence were discussed. Tuesday also was the six-month anniversary of Lawrence’s death.
Mother of Trequon Lawrence, Pashion Watts-Gaines.
Watts and Watts-Gaines founded the organization because gun violence and homicides have “become the norm for this city,” Watts said.
In February the group celebrated the launch of the nonprofit with its first virtual community meeting.
At the Tuesday meeting, Watts raised concerns about the upcoming summer season, which gets “out of control” with violence, she said.
She suggested there be an increase in places for youth to go for recreational fun in all neighborhoods, and spoke of raising money to help “put their energy to good use.”
The foundation aims to tackle not only gun violence but all city violence and crime.
“We want prevention. We need action before things happen,” Watts said. “Don’t just show up when a murder happens.”
This summer, if upticks in violence occur, Watts suggested the city implement curfews that are enforced by the police department.
Kim DiBenedetto-Rogers.
Watts also suggested that police officers be required to get to know the communities they patrol and build relationships with residents.
“Nowadays no one knows anyone,” Watts said.
“If they know police are not going to care, then they’re going to continue keeping people at bay and keep people locked up in their own homes,” she added.
“When you walk out your door, you have to look both ways, like you’re crossing the street,” Watts said.
Also in attendance at the meeting was Kim DiBenedetto-Rogers, whose nephew, Isaiah Conyers, was shot dead in his apartment in 2014.
DiBenedetto-Rogers echoed Watts’ demand for community policing that requires police to make relationships with neighborhood residents.
When she sees officers patrolling neighborhoods, they rarely stop to say hello to kids and other residents, she said.
She added that more police presence is needed, particularly in Newhallville, along with more transparency from the police department.
She asked why “cop cars [are] sitting in parking lots where there is no crime or action.”
Watts-Gaines, Lawrence’s mother, has gotten no answers about her son’s death in six months, she said.
She said she “remembers it like it was yesterday” when her son was murdered.
The pain and grieving remains “fresh and new,” she said, especially when “no one is feeling responsible for it.”
Watts said that community members won’t speak up to help solve crimes if they don’t know or trust city police.
The foundation hopes to partner with Mothers United Against Violence, Connecticut Department of Children and Families (DCF), and other prevention efforts to curb community issues like crime and drug abuse.
DiBenedetto-Rogers suggested the organization also look to partner with youth mental health resources that focus in following up with children who have witnessed or been exposed to local violence.
The idea came to her after having a shooting happen in the backyard of her home years ago during her child’s birthday party.
“Kids that are not getting the treatment or the therapy that they need after witnessing something like that or after it being a family member, that can then turn into something that they’re going to do,” DiBenedetto-Rogers said.
Keeping families connected: Officer Nancy Jordan.
Nancy Jordan, the New Haven police department’s victim services officer, facilitates monthly Survivors of Homicide Victims Support Group meetings that both DiBenedetto-Rogers and Watts-Gaines attend.
Despite plans to retire from the department two years ago after 20 years of service, Jordan has remained at the department because of the support group.
“I needed to give more,” she said. “My motto is: No survivors should be left behind.”
She said she plans to increase the community presence of the support group to bring awareness to all forms of violence and the number of unsolved homicides. On Sunday Jordan has arranged for the support group to march for its first time ever in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade.
Watts asked Jordan to help the foundation establish a relationship with the police department to work together to prevent violence in the city.
The foundation also has a goal to create a fund to give awards to community members who speak up to help solve cases.
Thank you to Laverne Watts and mother Lashawn Gaines for founding the Trequon Lawrence Advocacy and Accountability Foundation (TLAAF) to honor their loved ones memory by trying to find ways to help prevent violence, and create a stronger and healthier community relationship with the police officers assigned to their neighborhoods.
And thank you to Nancy Jordan, the New Haven police department’s victim services officer, for helping facilitate murder victim survivor meetings to help heal those who are left behind after the loss of their loved ones to violence.