By Cynthia Koons
It was, however, the first time that other bereaved mothers had joined Altagracia Guaba, Mayi's mother, in a show of solidarity for the movement to end teen violence.”We are making a calling to the whole community to stop the violence and love ourselves,” Councilman Hiram Monserrate (D-Corona) said at the march held Saturday on the street where Mayi was killed. Guaba addressed the crowd of about 50 marchers who had gathered, all carrying signs with phrases beginning with the word “Justice.” After midnight one evening in March 1991, a group of white teens chased 18-year-old Manny Mayi from William F. Moore Park in the Italian section of Corona for 16 blocks down 108th street, beating him with baseball bats and a fire extinguisher. Mayi, a Dominican Queens College engineering student, collapsed in front of a house near the intersection of 108th Street and 36th Avenue and died.One teen was arrested in the case, tried and acquitted. Another suspect has since become a New York City cop.”I have been struggling, I have not tired and I will not tire in struggling for justice in the death of my son,” she said in Spanish through a translator. “I understand the pain of all these mothers standing with me today.”On either side of her were the mothers of Michael Berrios, who died in December 2004 in a stabbing, and Paul “Dude” Massard, who died July 2001 after being shot in the chest.While the cases differed in circumstance, all of the mothers believed their sons were killed in random, senseless street violence.”The worst nightmare you can have is for a child to leave you,” Berrios' mother, Anette Lopez, said. “My child was brutally stabbed for no apparent reason, supposedly over a Santa hat, which is ridiculous.”Her eyes wet with tears, she said the community had to do something to end the type of rampage that claimed her son's life.”This has to stop, all of our children are dying,” she said. “The pain that we have is unbearable.”Massard's mother, Althea Hunter, lost her son in July 2001 after a dispute near the intersection of 106th Street and Northern Boulevard that could have also claimed the life of Massard's father.Paul Massard, 26, was shot in the chest by an unidentified person, according to a police spokeswoman. It was not known what started the dispute.The victim's father, also named Paul Massard, 54, ran after the shooter, who fired a bullet into the elder Massard in the arm, police said. The younger Massard was killed and his father was taken to the hospital in stable condition.”I wish the violence would stop,” Hunter said. “The pain hurts.”Reach reporter Cynthia Koons by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 141.
