RAYCO ‘WAR’ SAUNDERS (Courier Photo/William McBride)
The shooting death of a 1-year-old boy at an East Hills cookout has left many in the community feeling outraged and fed up with the Black-on-Black violence.
Early Tuesday evening, two females were injured and their nephew was killed when three men got out of a vehicle and opened fire into a crowd at a cookout in the 2300 block of East Hills Drive. The toddler, who has been identified as Marcus White Jr., 19 months, was taken to Children’s Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The two females, whose names still have not been released, were taken to UPMC Presbyterian Hospital, one, 19 years old, was listed in stable condition, the second, 20 years old with gunshot wounds to the chest and back, has been listed in critical condition. The women had taken White to the cookout.
“My grandson is gone and he’s not coming back,” said Camille Smith, White’s grandmother. “He was an innocent baby. It was senseless.”
Smith said she has received a lot of support from the community, but asks that people come forward.
The Pittsburgh Bureau of Police released in a statement that they do not believe the three individuals were the intended targets.
The incident has left many in the community feeling outraged, fed up and sending out a message that this senseless violence will not be tolerated.
Rayco “War” Saunders, a parent and professional boxer, said, “It’s an outrage. My son is 7, if something like this happened to him, yes the city would have problems.” He continued to say, “If they (the community) really want to stop crime, the neighborhood has to step up. This has nothing to do with the police. They say when you a person goes to court they’re judged by a jury of their peers. I think your peers should deal with the situation.”
Wednesday, Saunders posted this comment on Facebook, “What’s (on) your mind? Facebook, I THINK that the persons that know who shot the 2 women and killed the 1 yr young baby, should turn him/her over to THE PEOPLE (not the police) and let Us deal with him/her. When you kill babies you don’t deserve “3 hots” and a “cot”! # Disclaimer# I’m not telling or suggesting that anyone do anything illegal, I’m simply answering facebook’s question.”
Saunders said he knows the law doesn’t want people taking matters into their own hands, but he’s a strong believer in the proverb “it takes a village” and believes society needs to go back to when everyone in the community would watch out for the children.
As a solution to the gun violence in the Black community, Saunders offered this alternative solution when individuals are caught.
“We should cut off their trigger fingers, that way their mothers and children can still love them and they can work, because prison isn’t working.”
Like Saunders, others in the community are fed up.
Community Activist Paradise Gray said, “I’m almost at a loss for words. It’s a great tragedy. This is all of ours child who was killed. The Black community used to be the safest place in the world for a Black man; now nothing is off limits, nothing is sacred. It’s a sad state of affairs when we don’t care about life.” He added, “People will talk about it and do nothing. We need to stand up and be heroes in the community. We need to police ourselves. We don’t need vigils, we need vigilance.”
Gray added that it’s time to stop turning the other cheek when it comes to what’s going on in our communities, and even our homes. “We have to hold our own people, family and friends accountable. We need to stand up before this s**t happens.”
Bernadette Turner, Executive Director of Addison Behavioral Health and a friend of the Courier’s Facebook page, wrote on her page, “Wonder if it would make a difference if Pittsburgh shut down; East Hills was on lock….the police went door-to-door and every law officer was called in, not stopping until the killer was found. You know, like the Boston Marathon…..”
While that may work, in the case of the Boston Marathon attacks there were suspects identified, unfortunately, no suspects have been named.
Brian Stanton, owner of Lounge 7101 in Homewood, said, “So many people out there and nobody saw anything? It’s like our culture has a backlash against snitching. It’s not snitching if you’re telling what you saw and have nothing to do with it. If it was my son, I would want someone to step forward.”
Stanton, a father of three, said “I want to see justice by the police or by the streets.”
On Sunday, May 26, Stanton will be holding a fundraiser from 8 p.m.-2 a.m., where all the proceeds from the door will go to “Baby Marcus.”
Tim Stevens, founder of the Black Political Empowerment Project, said, “This is tragic. My first reaction was it’s pretty sad when you can’t hold a picnic without violence, and not only violence, but gun violence. We’ve come a long way, but in the wrong direction. The sad part is collectively we’re no longer shocked, you have three people in a family directly affected.”
The three gunmen are still at large and authorities are asking anyone with information to contact them.
Connie Parker, Pittsburgh Unit NAACP president, said, “We’re sitting back locked in our homes because we think we’re safe and we’re not. it. We have to be our own gatekeeper. We all need to work to make it happen.”
Parker said things can’t go on like they are and us not come up with some agenda, we have to say we will not let these few individuals terrorize our communities.
She said the NAACP is committed to working on agenda to saving our communities.
Pennsylvania State Representative Ed Gainey, along with Pittsburgh Councilman Rev. Ricky Burgess, have issued a joint appeal, asking anyone with information to come forward.
Gainey said, “There’s no code of silence when it comes to a baby dying. It’s time to stand up and come forward. The only way this baby will get justice is to talk about what you know. We can’t have the perpetrators of this crime think they got away with this.”
Stevens said that people with information about the incident and who fail to report it, even anonymously, are contributors to the crime.
“Who is that stupid and non-caring enough to shoot into a group of people at a picnic, a positive family event? My concern is that, unfortunately, we as a community have reached a sense of callousness and that’s unacceptable.”
(To report any information, please call Pittsburgh Bureau of Police Homicide Squad at 412-323-7161.)