Demonstrators rally for peace in St. Paul after recent shootings
Around 100 people marched a mile and a half through the Dayton's Bluff neighborhood in St. Paul Sunday to demand an end to gun violence. A group of mothers organized the Mother's Day rally following several shootings in the area.
Darnella Wade arrived at the rally wearing a pink T-shirt with the words "Black Truce" on the front. On Wade's back was a picture of her 20-year-old son D'Onjay Jackson, who was shot in the head and critically wounded Feb. 6.
Wade said that three months later, Jackson is still in a rehab facility, unable to walk, and his future is uncertain.
"They never removed the bullet and they're waiting to see how much he will recover," she said. "He can't talk. He's still eating on a feeding tube."
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Authorities say the shooting near East Seventh Street stemmed from a dispute over counterfeit money and marijuana. Prosecutors charged a 17-year-old with first-degree assault. A 24-year-old man was charged as an accomplice.
Nevertheless, Wade said she finds it difficult to be mad at the shooter. She said she's more angry about the culture of violence and greed that led to the shooting. Wade said she wants to prevent other people's children from becoming perpetrators or victims.
"I think it was a whole lot of misfortune. Kids chasing dollars that don't understand the repercussions of the streets and people that are ruled by ruthless ambition," she said.
Wade helped lead Sunday's anti-violence march. It started at Indian Mounds Regional Park, where 18-year-old Bobby Davion Collins was shot to death last month in a dispute over gang names.
Rally organizer Pastor Marea Perry with Above Every Name Ministries said mothers should not have to fear for their children's safety.
"Our babies need to know that they can walk outside of their homes and play on the playground," she said. "Ride their bikes, draw on the concrete with chalk, and love and embrace one another, not to come outside and feel fear because they're scared someone's going to get shot."
St. Paul police in cruisers escorted the protesters down Earl Street, through the heart of the Dayton's Bluff neighborhood. Several others participated in the march, including officer Heather Grulkowski.
"Last year I had to pick up some guy's tennis shoe who was just shot and killed in this area on the east side," she said. "That's not a good day at work, so I don't want that to happen anymore."
Minneapolis peace activist K.G. Wilson came to St. Paul for the rally. Wilson said a cycle of retaliation is driving much of the violence in both cities.
"One individual's life is taken. Family and friends who are not peaceful and want to take on retaliation and vengeance take on retaliation and vengeance on the individuals who may have done something to their loved one," Wilson said. "And then it goes on and on and on."
Even as mothers rallied for peace, investigators spent the day looking into two new weekend shootings.
Police are searching for suspects in the fatal shooting of a man early Saturday in north Minneapolis. In downtown St. Paul a woman was shot to death in a separate incident. Police said they arrested a suspect at the scene.