The family of an innocent bystander gunned down two blocks from his high school grieved at his funeral at the New Jerusalem Baptist Church in Jamaica on Friday, October 9.
The death of freshman Kevin Miller was what Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown called “Another example of the mindless gun-related violence that too often takes innocent lives and recklessly endangers public safety.”
“The result of such gunplay is that a 13-year-old boy, who was taken far before his time, is being buried today and his family must struggle with his loss,” he continued.
The cops have a second youth, Gregory Calas, 18, of St Albans, in custody in Miller’s death. He is being charged with second-degree murder, assault and possession of a loaded gun. Charged as an adult, Nnonso Ekwegbalu, 16, of Springfield Gardens, was arraigned on similar charges on Monday, October 5.
The investigation alleges that Calas and Ekwegbalu were members of the “Crips” street gang and the altercation was with three members of a rival street gang, the “Bloods.”
It is getting all too easy to chalk up tragedies like this one to just more “gang violence.” Each shooting, every death is one too many.
We as a society must get the guns off the streets and out of the hands of our youth.
To that end we applaud the efforts of the DA’s office and the New York Police Department for busting up a gun running ring of four who sold 30 handguns, numerous rounds of ammunition and other weapons, including a sawed-off shotgun, to undercover cops over a nine-month period.
However, we need more gun buyback programs like the highly successful one run by several participating churches in St. Albans, Jamaica and the Rockaways. The reward was a $200 bank debit card – no identity required and no questions asked.
The results were amazing as 919 guns – including assault weapons, sawed-off shotguns, some 130 semi-automatic pistols and over 250 revolvers – were removed from the community before they could be used in the commission of a crime or deadly felony.
We say bring that program back in memory of Kevin Miller.
