DAMION “DAY DAY” NANCE AND JANELL “NELLY” ROSS, VICTIMS IN THE HOMEWOOD SHOOTING ON MARCH 25.
Both were shot and killed near Denise and Earl’s, March 25
Seemingly everyone—Pittsburgh’s mayor, the police department, elected officials, community organizers, church pastors, residents of the community—is trying to stop the senseless gun violence that plagues Pittsburgh, Allegheny County and beyond.
Yet, there have been 38 homicides through the first three months of 2023 in Allegheny County, and two of the last three homicides that occurred in March were 46-year-old Damion “Day Day” Nance, and 47-year-old Janell Ross. They both were shot outside Denise and Earl’s bar, near the corner of Frankstown and Brushton avenues, around midnight, March 25.
No suspects have been arrested.
On March 27, the Homewood community held a vigil for Nance, as hundreds came out to show their love and support for both Nance and Ross.
PREPARING FOR THE BALLOON RELEASE (PHOTO BY AMBER SLOAN)
Shayla Hopkins, Nance’s sister, told the New Pittsburgh Courier’s Ashley G. Woodson that “Damion was a humble and non-problematic person. He did not deserve this to happen to him. He was loved by the kids from the Homewood community and a coach for the football teams. He lost his son two years ago due to tragedy. He was minding his business and they ran down on him for no reason.”
Derrick Clark, from The Mission Continues, told Woodson that “Day Day and I played Little League baseball, and we went to school together since we were kids. Nelly (Janell Ross’ nickname) and I were cool, and she was trying to do her music by promoting and getting herself out to the masses. She was out here doing positive things for women.”
AMONG THOSE PICTURED—MAYOR ED GAINEY, HIP HOP ARTIST/DJ TUFFY TUFF, COMMUNITY ACTIVIST AMBER SLOAN (SECOND FROM RIGHT) AND TIM STEVENS OF B-PEP (PHOTOS BY ASHLEY G. WOODSON)
Mayor Ed Gainey and Black Political Empowerment Project Chairman and CEO Tim Stevens also attended the vigil.
“This was a senseless shooting and you run out of words,” Stevens told Woodson. “When I was driving down Frankstown Avenue today, there was a beautiful rainbow. I hope that the rainbow was a sign that we can move forward in a positive manner. People who shoot folks don’t realize the tragic impact they have on people’s lives for years to come.”
Mayor Gainey called Nance a “great guy” and Ross “a beautiful woman.”
“I know how much Day Day worked with our children…loved the community, poured love into them,” he said.
HIP HOP ARTIST DRE’ LEEZ AND KENNY, AT THE VIGIL
Data from the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office read that 26 of the 38 homicide victims between Jan. 1 and March 31 were Black lives. And 8 of the 26 Black victims were women.
The Courier reported on the uptick of Black female homicide victims in Allegheny County in a January 2023 special report. The Courier found that from 2020 to 2022, 41 Black women and girls had been killed in Allegheny County.
BARBERS AND PODCASTERS DAIN WILLIAMS AND ADBUL RAHIM
“I do believe there was a different level of respect given to Black women and girls back then,” said Brenda Tate, the 40-year law enforcement veteran who spent 35 of those years with the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police, retiring as a detective, in the January article. “There were more people protecting them in the community. I can remember, and I’m 73 years old, there was never a time in the community that I would be in a certain place, that someone didn’t stop me and say, ‘Does your mother know you’re here.’ My brothers didn’t get that same treatment, but someone always had their eyes on Black women and girls in the community.”
HIP HOP ARTIST LADY HOMI SHOWING SUPPORT (PHOTOS BY ASHLEY G. WOODSON)
“It’s a trend that has been on the uptick for a while now,” said Diane Powell, director of Community and Family Builders, in the January article. She was formerly the director of Black Women 4 Positive Change, in Pittsburgh. “It’s no secret that African American women have always been the least protected and the most victimized in our society.”
“We’re the only ones that can change our community,” Mayor Gainey said at the vigil. “There’s no cavalry that’s coming to get us, no white horse that’s coming to save us. The only ones we got is each other.” Bureau of Police, retiring as a detective, in the January article. “There were more people protecting them in the community. I can remember, and I’m 73 years old, there was never a time in the community that I would be in a certain place, that someone didn’t stop me and say, ‘Does your mother know you’re here.’ My brothers didn’t get that same treatment, but someone always had their eyes on Black women and girls in the community.”
“It’s a trend that has been on the uptick for a while now,” said Diane Powell, director of Community and Family Builders, in the January article. She was formerly the director of Black Women 4 Positive Change, in Pittsburgh. “It’s no secret that African American women have always been the least protected and the most victimized in our society.”
“We’re the only ones that can change our community,” Mayor Gainey said at the vigil. “There’s no cavalry that’s coming to get us, no white horse that’s coming to save us. The only ones we got is each other.”
THE MEMORIAL FOR DAMION NANCE, AKA DAY DAY AND JANELL ROSS, AKA NELLY
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