Police, victims’ kin decry recent violence
Group gathers to speak out about recent killings, foster support. Man, 26, shot to death west of downtown Delray
WEST PALM BEACH — As police officers, a city commissioner and mothers whose sons and daughters have been killed spoke out Saturday afternoon about recent violence, three more families said goodbye to their children in separate funerals in West Palm Beach and Riviera Beach.
Angela Williams, the Mothers Against Murderers Association founder, said she had hoped for a quiet, peaceful summer, but Palm Beach County’s homicide numbers say otherwise.
“After losing my nephew (in July), that brings me up to 17 family members (killed),” she said shaking her head. “And as an organization, we’ve grown from 285 mothers to 288 walk- ing through our door (in just a few days).”
More than 25 people, DELRAY BEACH — A 26-year-old man was found shot west of downtown early Saturday, city police said.
Officers are investigating the death of Jamar Gammage as a homicide, making it the second one in the city this year and the 58th in Palm Beach County, according to a Palm Beach Post database.
Gammage was found shot at about 2 a.m. on the 1100 block of West Atlantic Avenue, just east of Interstate 95 and south of Pompey Park. Officers gave him CPR, but he died from his
including three West Palm Beach police offifficers and City Commissioner Sylvia Moffffett, gathered at the 45th Street offiffices of her group, known as MAMA, to speak out about recent violence in the city and lean on each other for support.
It had been 20 days since the last homicide within West Palm Beach, when Andre Pierce was found shot to death Aug. 2 in Sunset Park off Australian Avenue. In the preceding five weeks, seven people, including Pierce, were killed in West Palm Beach, several others were injured and many questions were left unanswered.
Cassandra Johnson’s son, Paul, was shot five times in Riviera Beach a week before Thanksgiving last year. While she said she has a little comfort knowing the man who took away her child was arrested soon after the shooting, the pain doesn’t get any easier to handle. When there are other mothers who don’t know and may never know who killed their children, she said it’s organizations like MAMA — and events like those on Saturday calling for an end to recent violence — that provide help, but not closure.
“Somebody needs to speak out. You need to come forward,” she said about recent violence in West Palm Beach. “Because it hurts forever.”
Williams shook her head as she recalled the past few weeks. Her nephew, 17-year-old Taron Adams, was one of those seven killed this summer, shot to death July 21 at Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard and Sapodilla Avenue. On top of helping with his funeral arrangements, she helped everyone else who was affected this summer, like she has for the past several years with MAMA. But experience doesn’t make it any easier, she said.
Up until the fatal shooting of Taurean Lewis on July 5, West Palm Beach had only seen five homicides this year — less than one death a month. Now the toll stands at 12.
“I really thought we were going to have a good summer,” she said. “Then it all happened.”
West Palm Beach police officer Christopher Nebbeling spoke to the crowd, thanking them for their support of the police department and the communit y, especially during this time. Every little bit helps, he said, whether it’s through walks calling for an end to violence in the cit y or leaning on each other through organizations like MAMA.
“You make our jobs easier so we can solve these crimes,” said Nebbeling, who has been with the department for eight years.
Moffett, whose north end district contains part of the Tamarind Avenue corridor where the recent gun violence has been concentrated, said efforts bet ween organizations such as MAMA, the police and the cit y government have been helpful not only to solve the crimes but to bring comfort to these families.
But even with their help, she said it’s still hard to find a long-term solution to stop the violence — especially when those who could stop the violence continue to remain quiet.
“What’s most frustrating is wanting to stop the violence) and not knowing how,” Moffett said.