Two dozen police officers and anti-gun violence activists rallied together at a prayer vigil commemorating the murder of a West Haven man and the shooting injury of a New Haven top cop.
That vigil took place Friday evening in a vacant lot at the corner of Dixwell Avenue and Henry Street, not far from where 46-year-old West Havener Troy Clark was shot and killed and New Haven Police Capt. Anthony Duff was shot and injured late Monday night.
The rally was organized by the anti-gun violence group Ice the Beef, which has held similar rallies following different shootings in the Dixwell neighborhood earlier this summer, in collaboration with Fearless Builders.
“I don’t want to live in a city where this is still common,” said 14-year-old Ice the Beef member Manny Camacho (pictured). He continues to show up to vigil after vigil and rally after rally, he said, to advocate against gun violence.
“Every time this happens,” he added, “it feels like my obligation” to show up and speak out.
Demethra Telford (pictured), whose 14-year-old son Tyirck Keyes lost his life to gun violence two summers ago, said that she too keeps showing up to these rallies because she sees her life’s work, in the wake of her son’s death, as building community support against gun violence.
“I would like to see the village come together,” she said. “Enough is enough.”
Uniformed police officers, including some of those who helped save Duff’s life after the shooting, stood shoulder to shoulder with the Ice the Beef activists and neighborhood residents who showed up for the vigil.
“We can’t do this alone,” said Assistant Police Chief Karl Jacobson (pictured above). “And we’re glad that you invited us here. We’re gonna be out here day and night to protect you. And we’re gonna be out here day and night until we bring him justice.” He called on anyone who might have any information about the person who killed Clark and injured Duff to contact the city police’s detective bureau at 203 – 946-6304.
“It takes the community and it takes the police to come together to find who did something like this,” said Dixwell Alder Jeannette Morrison (pictured). “We have to come together. We have to stop this violence. Because this community, we love one another. We love one another, and we support one another.”
Monjur Hossain (pictured), whose family owns the Dixwell Mini Mart near the corner of Dixwell and Henry, said the shooting wasn’t an exception.
Unfortunately, a shooting murder and gunshot injury are all too common for the neighborhood, he said. He was in the store’s kitchen at the time of the shooting, and could hear the gunfire just a few dozen feet away.
“This is normal here,” he said.
Earlier this year, he added, he himself was the victim of an attack whereby a violent customer beat him up and chipped one of his teeth. All because he asked the customer not to be rude to his family, Hossain said.
Click on the Facebook Live video below to watch Friday’s prayer vigil.
I will Repeat my post.
posted by: THREEFIFTHS on August 13, 2019 7:14pm
Who every did this.Should be brought to justice and If he has not killed himself he will.But we can not overlook at the cause of this.And That is what H.Rap Brown said "Violence is as American as cherry pie"In fact it it has got so bad here that Amnesty International has joined a growing list of countries warning travelers about the perils of gun violence in the United States.A travel advisory the organization issued Wednesday "calls on people worldwide to exercise caution and have an emergency contingency plan when traveling throughout the USA.This Travel Advisory is being issued in light of ongoing high levels of gun violence in the country," the warning continues.Calling gun violence in the United States "a human rights crisis" in a statement accompanying the travel advisory, Amnesty International accused the U.S. government of failing to fulfill its obligation under international law to keep people safe.The Japanese Consulate in Detroit, meanwhile, released a statement Sunday calling the United States a "gun society" and urging Japanese nationals to stay alert after the Dayton shooting.These are just the latest countries and international groups to label gun violence in America a safety concern. In recent years, Germany, Ireland, Canada and New Zealand have issued similar warnings about travel to the United States.
I just got finish look at the News.They Just Arrested in BOARDMAN, Ohio A 18 year old who had threatened to shoot federal agents, a Planned Parenthood and a gay bar and he had 10,000 rounds of ammunition, camouflage clothing, camouflaged backpacks, 15 rifles and shotguns and 10 semi-automatic pistols..How did he get all this?Saw this also on the News Wild shootout near 215 Freeway in Riverside California. Patrol officer was killed and two others injured in a shootout.
Part One.