Amid the recent surge of shootings in Queens, Borough President Donovan Richards joined community members outside of Woodside Houses on Thursday, March 25, to call for an end to gun violence.
Elected officials, community leaders and the family of Gudelia Vallinas, an innocent victim of the recent shootings, gathered for the rally denouncing the plague of gun violence after Vallinas, a 37-year-old mother of two, was fatally shot near her home in Woodside Houses. She had been returning home after running an errand when she was caught in the crossfire between two men on March 12. Police believe she wasn’t the intended target, but have not made any arrests.
On Thursday, Alfredo Vallinas, Gudelia’s husband of 15 years, said the pain of losing his wife “will never go away.”
“And I do not wish this on anybody. Today it was my family, it was the Vallinas family, it was Gudelia, but tomorrow it could be yours,” Alfredo said, according to NY1.
The family, who is calling for justice for Gudelia, set up a GoFundMe in order to pay for funeral expenses and their children’s education.
There have been two other shootings at Woodside Houses public housing complex this month. Elliot Claiborne, 29, was fatally shot on March 23, for what police suspect was the same gang rivalry that led to Vallinas’ untimely death, according to the New York Daily News.
On Wednesday, a 32-year-old man was shot in the back in what police say may have been an attempted robbery at Woodside Houses. He is expected to survive after being transported to Elmhurst Hospital, according to the Queens Post.
Given the shootings that have taken place in the last two weeks, Richards emphasized that the city must “act bold and smart” to end gun violence and make streets safer by expanding crisis management systems and funding the Cure Violence model.
“We know neighborhood-based solutions lead to a decrease in gun and gang violence,” Richards said in a statement. “However, the system is underfunded, which leaves our communities vulnerable.”
The Cure Violence initiative is an evidence-based violence prevention program that employs “violence interrupters” and other outreach workers who can help de-escalate conflicts, provide resources and positive outlets for at-risk youth. While Mayor Bill de Blasio recently expanded the program to several police precincts in the city, the expansion didn’t include precincts in western Queens.
Earlier this month, the mayor announced another pilot program, Advance Peace Model, a new gun violence prevention program that pairs youth who are at risk for gun violence with individual mentors, that will launch this summer at five precincts in the city — including the 114th Precinct in Astoria. He was joined by Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and K.Bain, founder and executive director at 696 Build Queensbridge, when making the announcement.
“We need to empower our communities leaders — like K.Bain and 696 Queensbridge — and invest in the communities who need it most. That means more job opportunities, more affordable housing and real investment in our neighborhoods,” Richards said. “Our futures depend on it.”
Bishop Mitchell Taylor, CEO of Urban Upbound, said the community needs systemic and equitable programs for youth so they don’t have to resort to what’s happening.
State Senator Jessica Ramos and Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer also attended the rally. They previously released a joint statement calling on community members to “put the guns down and end this violence immediately.”
“Woodside Houses is a good community with good people. The recent incidents of gun violence are completely unacceptable and have no place in Woodside or our city as a whole,” their statement read. “We must respond by getting to the root causes of gun violence and by bringing people in who are trained at interrupting the violence before, during and after it happens. Solutions that focus on conflict resolution and bringing real opportunities to those who participate in gun violence is the only way out of a vicious cycle that perpetuates mass incarceration and despair.”
