Steve Hamm Photo
Demethra Telford at the vigil
Fourteen-year-old Tyrick Keyes was shot on a sidewalk along Newhall Street last summer when he was walking with his girlfriend. The gunman then stood over him and pulled the trigger again. Keyes died a few days later.
Tuesday evening New Haveners remembered Keyes and other people killed in gun violence in the past two years at a candlelight vigil in Newhallville.
About 40 people shared remembrances on a basketball court behind Lincoln Bassett Community School and then walked to the spot on Newhall Street where Keyes was shot.
Young men who were shooting baskets in the near-dark stopped their play and stood respectfully at the back of the crowd while relatives and friends of the dead spoke emotionally of their losses.
Demethra Telford, Keyes’ mother, was too broken up to talk publicly. Earlier she expressed frustration that the shooter has not been brought to justice.
“People know what happened and they’re not coming forward. Someone saw something. I pray that they come forward,” she said.
Chaz Carmon.
The event was organized by Ice the Beef Youth and BlackNHV, two community groups focused on helping young people in New Haven’s neighborhoods become successful and avoid violence. Ratasha Smith, founder of BlackNHV, explained her motivations before the vigil began. “I have a young black son. I don’t want to feel their pain,” she said. “I want to keep the message of peace in the city before it affects me.”
During the vigil, Chaz Carmon, president of Ice the Beef Youth, said, “It’s a shame that all the inner-city shootings number in the millions, but it took these school shootings to get people to demand action.”
Participants in the vigil listed the names of the people who died in New Haven, Parkland school in Florida and Sandy Hook Elementary School. After each name was read, the participants said, “We will remember.”
Jalen Jordan.
New Haven’s violent crime rate has been declining steadily for seven years. But in neighborhoods such as Newhallville, crime and violence remain daily concerns, and feelings run strong.
“Any crime is too much crime,” Rev. Kelcy Steele of Varick Memorial AME Zion Church, said before the vigil. He urged his neighbors: “If you see something, say something.”
