SPRINGFIELD — Family and friends of Francena Brown were holding a memorial for her son Tyrell Narcisse when shots rang out and she saw a young man, who was like a son to her, drop to the ground.
“First I thought it was a firecracker, and then I heard another, and then I saw the young man just fall back,” she said. “It is so sad. I know the pain of that mother.”
Earl Howard, 26, was killed on Oswego Street on June 13 during the gathering to remember Narcisse, who was 21 when he was killed in 2006 in a homicide that remains unsolved.
On Tuesday about 25 people, some of them family members of homicide victims, gathered to hold a “Plea for Peace” at the gates of Oak Grove Cemetery. The location was selected to show young people where they may end up if the gang violence doesn’t stop.
The event was organized by Alive with Awareness Knowledge and Empowerment, better known as AWAKE, a long-running nonprofit organization aimed at reducing youth and gang violence, with the help of multiple other groups including Vanguard, Real Recognize Fake and Families Against Violence.
“Families wanted to do something since there is a gang war going on,” said Chelan Brown, an organizer for AWAKE.
A total of 10 people have been killed in Springfield in 2020. Five of the homicides occurred in June, and three took place over five days between June 13-17. Tamara Clark, 37, was the most recent victim. She was killed and another man was wounded in a double shooting on Oakland Street on Saturday.
Brown said that death especially hit home because Clark was a family friend. She was sitting in a car and the bullet was not aimed at her. It shows how gang wars and shootings can claim the lives of people not involved, including children, Brown said.
“She was a beautiful spirit. She was the life of the party,” she said.
A half-hour before people marched for peace, another person was injured in a shooting on Ranney Street, about three blocks away from the place where Michael Paolercio was shot to death on June 16. Police said the victim in Tuesday’s shooting was taken to Baystate Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries.
“It is a heavy, heavy feeling when you are doing something like this and there is another shooting,” Brown said.
She and her husband have three boys ranging in age from 14 to 21. She said her oldest, a student at Worcester State University, barely leaves the house because he knows many of the people involved in the shootings and is frightened of getting involved.
“When is enough truly enough? We are being forced to deal with rampant police brutality and the murder of people of color by those sworn to protect and serve, a historic pandemic that is claiming the lives of people of color at alarming rates, and are still dealing with the senseless murder of our young men and women by guns too easily available in our communities. Enough is Enough,” she said.
While police did not confirm there was a gang war, spokesman Ryan Walsh said the spate of violence began April 17, when Chandler Stevenson, 22, was killed on College Street during a backyard party. That shooting sparked what city detectives characterized as a rolling gunfight that left four others wounded.
“Nearly everything in June was gang-related starting back to the College Street homicide,” Walsh said.
Since March 17, police have made at least 48 gun arrests and confiscated at least 42 unlawful firearms. One person was shot at least twice since April, and one person was arrested a second time on firearms charges after being released on bail on gun-related offenses, Walsh said.
Multiple people who attended Tuesday’s vigil said there are many reasons for the violence. Some encouraged residents to look in “their own homes” and call out their sons, cousins and neighbors who they know are armed and continuing the violence.
“We are scared of people who are doing the shooting. It is people who I was raised with,” said Tiffany Allecia, of Real Recognize Fake.
Others blamed it on the many unlawful guns on the streets. A number also said they agreed with Mayor Donenic J. Sarno’s complaints about judges setting low bails for repeat offenders, especially those found with firearms.
“The root cause is finding out where these guns are coming from,” said Syreetha Frazer, whose son Tavis Frazer was shot to death while he sat in a car during a gunfight on Sept. 21, 2014. “We are angry, we are tired of losing our kids to the streets.”
Sarno and Police Chief Cheryl Clapprood have repeatedly complained that several people arrested in relation to gun violence are released on low or no bail and are returning to the same neighborhood to resume gun violence.
State Rep. Bud L. Williams, of Springfield, talks about fighting gun violence saying he will continue to fight for a bill that will make it more difficult for judges to release people arrested on gun charges on low bails during a "Plea for Peace" vigil on Tuesday. (Jeanette DeForge/Republican staff)
State Rep. Bud L. Williams said he was working to get a bill passed to prevent some of what multiple people called the revolving door of justice and called on the people at the vigil to work with him and others to advocate for laws that will reduce the violence.
He also called for multiple agencies including the FBI and federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to work with police and residents to get the guns off the streets, he said.
“There are far too many guns in the hands of these young people,” Williams said. “Someone is making a lot of money off these guns.”
He also called on Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni to better fund the witness protection program so neighbors who do come forward to help law enforcement can be assisted.
Those who attended the vigil called for the groups to work together with church groups and neighborhood organizations to end the gang wars and gun violence in the city and discussed holding the first unity meeting soon.
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