During good and bad times, the Troy community always comes together
Since the coronavirus pandemic began hitting the Capital Region harder, I’ve been writing each week on that topic.
However, after seeing such strong community support the Collar City has shown since Donnovan Clayton, an 18-year- old Troy High student, was walking home in the area of 6th Avenue and Swift Street, when he was hit and killed by a stray bullet, I felt the need to write about this incident.
Last week, we reported on many community members stepping up to pledge money toward a reward leading to the arrest of the person responsible for the shooting death.
It all started on social media with former Troy Mayor Harry Tutunjian pledging money and from there, others began jumping in one after another to pledge more money.
It was great to see that number continue to increase as each hour and days went by and by the time we reported on the story last week, over $8,000 had already been pledged by many different people.
Another way the community came together was by holding a vigil in Riverfront Park and by organizing other events to remember the life of Donnovan and bring attention to his tragic story.
I feel so bad for fellow Troy students who knew Donnovan and for his family. Everyone knows that shootings and other violence occur in many different cities, but it’s always more frustrating to see an innocent person lose their life just because they happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Since becoming more involved with the Troy community, the main thing I’ve noticed is just how strong community support is there, and even though a lot of negative things happen there like senseless shootings and violence, community members always seem to band together in good and bad times.
When I first began reporting on news stories in Troy, I honestly thought I would mainly be reporting on negative stories such as police activity, however, to my surprise, I’ve done much more positive stories around the community and have met so many people throughout the community that always step up and do what’s best for the community they live in.
Of course, there has been a fair share of negative stories that must also be reported on, but it’s always good to come full circle on a negative story such as a senseless killing and see people responsible for the violent act be brought to justice through the court system.
I, like many others, really hope that someone comes forward with information and wants to claim that reward so that family and friends can feel some type of relief knowing that the person responsible for killing Donnovan pays the price for what they did. Nick on the Record appears in print every Wednesday. Nicholas Buonanno is the assistant senior editor for The Record and can be reached at nbuonanno@medianewsgroup.com