Gun Violence Homicide Victims Remembered

Through poetry, Jordan Strother is able to capture the complex emotions he feels when he remembers his brothers Eric Lewis and Anthony Strother: he holds happy memories of their endless vitality, but then he’s hit by a wave of sadness when he thinks of how their lives were cut short from gun violence. 

He shared some of that poetry at an ​“Annual Day of Remembrance” ceremony at a Valley Street memorial to homicide victims.

“In dreams, we laugh and play side by side, brothers forever, our hearts open wide. But nightmares creep in with a deafening sound. A gunshot echoes, tearing our world apart, profound,” Jordan recited from a poem he wrote in his phone’s notes app. ​“The dreams are now tainted, with sorrow and despair, memories of laughter replaced by a silent prayer. A life cut short, a future stolen away, leaving behind a void that words cannot convey.”

Friends and family members gathered for the Annual Day of Remembrance ceremony on Saturday at the New Haven Botanical Garden of Healing at 105 Valley St. 

The event featured family members and local leaders such as Mayor Justin Elicker, Senate President Pro Tempore Martin Looney, Police Chief Karl Jacobson and fellow city police command staff; Superintendent Madeline Negrón, and many others. Each read aloud names of residents and family members who lost their lives due to gun violence. 

Fair Haven Alder Frank Redente Jr. was a featured speaker at the event. A street outreach worker, Redente started a tattoo sleeve on his left arm back in 2014 in remembrance of New Haven gun violence victims.

“These are not just random names. These are kids that are actually a part of my life,” he said.

For Eric, Jordan, and Cathy Strother, the ceremony held significant meaning as they coped with the loss of loved ones Eric Lewis in 2018 and Anthony Strother in 2022. With Lewis’s and Strother’s deaths, Eric lost his sons, Jordan his brothers, and Cathy her nephews. 

“It means a lot to me just to know that someone cares about our grieving [and] their grief. We grieve and you know, to me, this here,” Cathy said, gesturing around to the garden, is ​“like we’re grieving together.”

Eric couldn’t muster the energy to speak and instead referred to his shirt, showing his sons on both the front and the back. It was a small way he could pay homage to the impact they had left. 

Jordan, a student at Cooperative Arts and Humanities High School, said that the event helped him feel less alone and connect with other families going through similar situations. He still holds fond memories of his older brothers. 

“They were protective,” Jordan said. ​“They were still babies and had more to live for … and they were role models.” 

It’s this sentiment of resilience and strength for his brothers that he encapsulates in the last stanza of his poem.

“Yet through pain, a flicker of hope remains and dreams his spirit dances forever unchanged. His laughter echoes and the winds gentle caress, a reminder that love transcends even death’s distress.”

Kelli McBride found it important to be at the garden Saturday morning to honor her son Micheal Jordan McBride Judkins, who passed away in August 2022.

McBride takes the grieving process ​“one day at a time” and continues to advocate against gun violence.

“It needs to stop,” she said. ​“It needs to stop because it’s senseless. There’s too many senseless killings going on out here, and we’re losing our young men and women, and it’s not fair.”

While Judkins may be gone, McBride still has something by which to remember him: his 5‑year-old daughter Kaylee McBride Judkins, who continues his legacy.

Dressed in matching red and white t‑shirts was mom Miylena Inthirath and her family commemorating the life and legacy of her daughter Mariyah Inthirath. Mariyah, an aspiring model from Bridgeport, died in 2021 after suffering a single gunshot wound on Sheffield Avenue. 

“She was outgoing. Always the life of the party,” Miylena said. ​“She had friends and loved ones all the time. She wanted to do more with her life but was taken shortly.”

Milyena encourages bystanders to speak up when they see violence occur in their communities, and she said her family is still seeking justice for Mariyah.

“We have too many people holding secrets. They know who her killer is, but nobody’s speaking about it,” she said. ​“The community also plays a big part of it and if they’re not here to help one another, this is always going to continue on.

“For every life lost to gun violence, generations cease to exist, and when people think about committing the act of violence that can cause someone’s life [to end], we need to revert and direct that energy toward other things,” said Marlene Miller Pratt, co-founder of the New Haven Botanical Garden of Healing.

Formerly a teacher at Career High School, Miller Pratt has now made it her life’s mission to combat gun violence. To her, the garden ​“represents life” and is a way to find connection and peacefulness for those who have passed. 

Miller Pratt was inspired to start the garden after the loss of her son Gary Kyshon Miller in 1998 at 20 years old. Miller Pratt, alongside fellow moms Pamela Jaynez and Celeste Robinson Fulcher and with help from the nonprofit Urban Resources Initiative, opened the garden in 2021.

Miller Pratt suggested that church youth groups could get involved to stop the violence and stressed the importance of positive influence on children to help ​“catch them while they’re young” and redirect them to artistic outlets to help with emotional management. 

“I want our mentorships and some of the clubs and sororities and things like that to give back to the community, give back to young people, especially our middle school kids,” she said, and ​“get them before they’re influenced by gun violence and gangs and drugs.”

Miller Pratt had a cautionary warning for those thinking about acts of violence. 

“Once they take that life at the spirit of moment, it’s not bringing that person back. They’re gone forever, and that has to stop.”