‘A reminder that people do care.’ Gun violence memorial in Homewood honors the lives lost

THIS GUN VIOLENCE MEMORIAL HAS BEEN SEEN BY THOUSANDS, AT THE CORNER OF FRANKSTOWN AVENUE AND N. MURTLAND STREET IN HOMEWOOD. (PHOTO BY ROB TAYLOR JR.)

6 of 56 homicides in Allegheny County have occurred in Homewood

For the last two weeks, those that have stopped at the red light at Frankstown Avenue and N. Murtland Street in Homewood have seen the memorial.

Filled with T-shirts of various colors, on each shirt is a name of a person, many of whom were Black, who died in this region to gun violence.

Names like Keith Wicks, 39, who died in a shooting in McKees Rocks in July 2022. Prentis Hutchinson, 35, who died in a shooting on the North Shore to begin August 2022. Jade Baker-Wright, 20, who died earlier this year in a shooting in Pitcairn. Marquis Campbell, 15, who died in a shooting outside of Oliver Citywide Academy in January 2022.

Unfortunately, there are many more T-shirts, with the names of many more who have passed, way too soon.

Heeding God’s Call, along with Community and Family Builders, and Liddy Barlow of Christian Associates of Southwest Pa., have teamed up to create the gun violence memorial. A number of churches have been contacted throughout Pittsburgh to see which churches want to host the memorial on or near its grounds.

In mid-May, the memorial was placed in a field next to Bethesda Community Church, in Homewood, along Bennett Street. On or near Mother’s Day, the memorial was vandalized, T-shirts knocked off the small sticks and rebar of which they once rested.

Diane Powell, executive director of Community and Family Builders, held a press conference with church leaders in May to denounce the vandalism, but to proudly announce that they would rebuild the memorial, which they did.

The memorial, unlike any of its kind in Pittsburgh, “is an opportunity to honor the victims,” Powell told the New Pittsburgh Courier, June 5, “and the surviving families.” Also, it’s to “remind them (the families) that the community not only cares, but we are hard at work at trying to curtail the number of shootings and deaths by gun violence.”

Officially, the summer isn’t even here yet. Still, Allegheny County had recorded 56 homicides in the first five months of 2023, six of which occurred in Homewood, where the memorial resides. Thirty-eight of the 56 homicides were Black lives, or 68 percent.

The gun violence memorial will move to different church locations. Shiloh Community Baptist Church has hosted the memorial on Frankstown and Murtland for the past two weeks. For the next week and a half, it will be located at Baptist Temple Church, on Race Street in Homewood. Then it will move to Church of the Holy Cross, on Kelly Street in Homewood.

“We’re continuing to recruit churches and trying to increase their engagement in violence prevention, importance of family and recognizing the need to help in getting common sense gun legislation passed,” Powell told the Courier.

As Pittsburgh’s mayor, Ed Gainey, Pittsburgh’s new police chief, Larry Scirotto, and a host of community leaders try their hardest to figure out ways to stop the gun violence, the memorial, full of colorful T-shirts that each honor a loved one, is a stark reminder of what happens when people have no regard for human life. They take matters into their own hands, and end a life with a gun.

But for Powell, the memorial also serves as “a source of comfort” for families who have lost their loved ones, “and a gentle reminder that people do care.”

A T-SHIRT WITH THE NAME OF 39-YEAR-OLD KEITH WICKS, WHO DIED IN JULY 2022. (PHOTOS BY J.L. MARTELLO)

THE NAMES OF OTHER PITTSBURGHERS WHO LOST THEIR LIVES TO GUN VIOLENCE.

 

 

 

About Post Author

Comments

From the Web

Skip to content