This past week in New York City was an alarmingly violent one, especially for Black and brown youngsters. On Saturday, 17-year-old Nyheem Wright was fatally stabbed in Coney Island. No arrests were made as of Jan. 24 and police are currently searching for six teens tied to the murder.
“This week our students repeatedly suffered from senseless acts of violence and tonight we mourn an utterly tragic loss of life,” said NYC Schools Chancellor David Banks in his statement about Wright. “I spoke with the young man’s principal this evening, who described him as a joyful leader. He was on the verge of graduation, and was a hard worker who took an active role in leading other young people at his school.
“Our city suffers because of these losses. We will support the students and schools impacted by violence this week as they grieve and work with all schools to help young people turn away from violence.”
DOE Chief of Safety and Prevention Partnerships Mark Rampersant added that weapons and other dangerous items are banned from schools and department programs are aimed at preventing youth violence.
“This past school year, we’ve rolled out a range of supports and interventions, including maintaining our commitment to ensuring every school has supports via social workers and guidance counselors; emphasizing Social-Emotional Learning for our youngest New Yorkers; and as part of our community collaboration work, introducing project pivot to provide critical interventions,” he said. “…we rely on our young people and the members of our school community, as well as our external partners, who do the essential work of telling a trusted adult when they see or hear something that could affect school safety.”
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Wright was a student at Liberation Diploma Plus High School in Brooklyn, according to Councilmember Ari Kagan.
On Thursday, police found two Bronx teenagers with gunshot wounds—15-year-old Josue Lopez-Ortega was pronounced dead at the hospital and a 16-year-old boy is currently in stable condition, according to police. “ABC News” reported that the surviving teen was released from the hospital on Friday.
The elderly were not spared from deadly NYC violence this past week: 74-year-old Maria Hernandez was found dead on Wednesday in her Upper West Side apartment, bound and gagged. Lashawn Mackey, 47, was arrested and charged for her murder. He reportedly once worked as a super in the victim’s building. The NYPD is also looking for a second, “unidentified” suspect connected to the killing.
Even those who disrupt the violence were subject to it. A prayer vigil was held at Brookdale Hospital for Taronn Sloan, an NYC violence interrupter known by the community as “Tree,” who is recovering from a gunshot to the chest. He represents Brownsville In, Violence Out (BIVO), one of the city’s six official Cure Violence model sites in Brooklyn. Such programs are designed to prevent shootings through preventive measures such as working with at-risk youth and defusing potentially violent disagreements.
“This was random,” said New York City gun violence czar A.T. Mitchell. “From what we understand, he wasn’t [a] target. This was a random situation. And thankfully he survived it. But we want him to know that this community and his colleagues and comrades of the crisis management system and the gun violence awareness movement have his back and wish him a speedy recovery.”
At the vigil, Councilmember Charles Barron urged the public to look at prevention from disruptors like Sloan when engaging with news on violent crime.
“You know what’s not recorded?” said Barron. “When y’all have a shooting and you make sure there’s no retaliation. What’s not recorded is what y’all prevent when you go there and do some negotiation, mediation. That’s not on the news. That’s not in the statistics.”
Tandy Lau is a Report for America corps member and writes about public safety for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep him writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://bit.ly/amnews1.
Until Black Folks are ready to have an honest conservation about this violence plaguing the cities and urban dwellings throughout America, Black Folks are scared to speak the truth the enemy plaguing Black Communities are the young black male thugs and until we say it because it is happening before our very eyes take your pick of cities Philly, Durham, Miami, DC, Baltimore any city that has seen a rise in violent crimes shootings, killings car jacking etc the culprit is the same that no good saggy pants nasty drawers showing sissified braided hair tattooed pos criminal Black Folks have yet to come to grips with the reality that this is our enemy Aniya Allen, Trinity Ottoson Smith, Ladavionne Garrett Jr. just a few children murdered by this enemy once Black Folks come to reality that this is the enemy the next step is a response plan step one if you are in a state where it is easy to purchase firearms then Armor Up a pistol minimum caliber 9mm but a 357 or 45 cal. is even better with those only one shot is needed, if you can budget for an AR 15 which shoots a 5.56./.223 round dudes wont be getting up after you hit them with one of these rounds, spend time at the range target practice lastly pressure these politicians, media hounds, celebrities and the like to give the Black Lives murdered by this enemy the same coverage you give for a police involved shooting and when folks say this is extreme pull out the over 600 homicide victims 2022 Chicago the over 500 homicide victims 2022 Philly and when they see it is nothing but Black Folks being murdered by this enemy the chose is theirs to stay silent are Armor Up.