Funeral services were held on Friday in Hempstead, Long Island for 12-year-old Dejah Joyner at Union Baptist Church. The family and the community continue to mourn for her death as police continue to look for her killer.
Joyner’s front porch stood illuminated with candles last week as community residents in Hempstead, Long Island, gathered in support of her family and to demand that the violence in their town stop.
Joyner was an average seventh-grade girl who enjoyed school, loved to sing and dance and recently celebrated her birthday. However, now she has become a symbol of the call for an end to gun violence.
On the night of Oct. 16, Joyner was in her home on Dartmouth Street in Hempstead, eating dinner in the living room. A stray bullet came through the bay window in the front of the house, going into her brain.
Family members report that Joyner’s mother, Keisha Miles Joyner, made the gruesome discovery of her child on the floor.
Give a donation to the family of Dejah Joyner
She was rushed to Winthrop-University Hospital in critical condition, fighting for her life. She died Saturday night.
Law enforcement officials said Joyner was not the intended target, and the suspect was aiming at someone who was on the street in front of her home. The shooting is believed to be a gang-related dispute.
“Dejah Joyner’s life was violently cut short before she even had a chance to live it,” Nassau County Acting District Attorney Madeline Singas said in a statement Sunday. “This is a heartbreaking tragedy, and we will do everything in our power to make sure that the gunman is brought to justice.”
No arrests have been made in the shooting, and a $75,000 reward has been offered by Crime Stoppers and Hempstead officials.
Sunday, more than 600 people attended a prayer vigil for Joyner’s family at Antioch Baptist Church. Her parents were inconsolable over the grief of losing their child.
“There’s no outrage,” said Mayor Wayne Hall. “Every time a young life is taken, there should be an outrage. We are outraged at the senseless killing of Dejah.”
Monday, grief counselors were at Joyner’s school, Hempstead Middle School, helping her friends deal with the loss.
The community came together Tuesday night at Hempsted Village Hall for an “Evening of Outrage.” Officials wanted to send a clear message about what they feel is a situation out of control.
Although Joyner’s parents were in attendance at the gathering, they did not speak, and they have not spoken to the media.
Funeral services and a wake for Joyner are scheduled for Friday at 10 a.m. at Union Baptist Church. The street on which she lived will be renamed Dejah Joyner Street.
The shooting has brought attention to the flow of guns into the New York area. The shooting was reportedly between members of the Crips and Bloods gangs, which have a heavy presence in Hempstead. There has been concern regarding ongoing gang activity in certain neighborhoods, notably the “Heights.” The Salvadoran gang, MS-13, or La Mara Salvatrucha, is in Hempstead.
Just last week in Brooklyn, eight defendants were indicted for trafficking weapons across state lines. The guns were purchased in Atlanta and Pittsburgh and then bused to New York for resale on the street.
Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson, together with New York City Police Commissioner William J. Bratton, announced that defendants from three states were charged in a 541-count indictment with conspiracy and other violations for trafficking guns.
The weapons recovered during the course of the investigation includes 9mm Ruger and Glock pistols, .22-caliber Walther pistols, .40-caliber Smith & Wesson pistols and .45-caliber Taurus pistols. Multiple .22 long-rifle-caliber semi-automatic Walther Model MP Uzis were also recovered. Those weapons are capable of penetrating bulletproof vests.
“These defendants conspired to use the lax gun laws down South and elsewhere to flood the streets of our city with assault weapons and other guns, which, in the wrong hands, could have caused mayhem and massive bloodshed in our communities,” said Thompson. “We will now hold these merchants of death accountable, no matter where they live.”
During the course of the investigation, it is alleged Michael Bassier made 12 trips to Atlanta using Chinatown buses for transportation, including Bus2NYC and other Chinatown bus lines. He allegedly brought up to six guns to New York from Atlanta on each trip, which were later brought to Brooklyn and sold to an undercover police officer.
Community activist and former NYPD Detective Marquez Claxton said that the key to ending violence in any community is for residents to come together and for cities to have proper resources.
“What happened in Hempstead is really a continuation of the national trend of an increase in gun violence,” he said. “It’s about community and personal responsibility, more of a community response and a neighborhood response than anything else.”
Although many communities seek to end violence with an increased police presence, Claxton said getting people before they turn in a negative direction is what needs to be done.
“The perpetrator involved in this act was bad from the beginning,” he said. “The community in which they operate is well aware of the threat level. The question is, where do we address that person or people about the threat they represent?”
