At 6:30 p.m. we were standing on the corner of New York Avenue and St. Johns Place holding the sign pictured above as part of the latest Shooting Response of S.O.S. – Save Our Streets Crown Heights,
a neighborhood-based movement to end shootings and killings.
This corner was the site of a shooting that resulted in the 47th shooting victim in the 77th Precinct in Crown Heights this year.
The bell was tolled 47 times for each of the shooting victims
as we demonstrators held up our signs to passing cars, B-44 buses and pedestrians
and chanted "Stop shooting, start living!"
S.O.S. – Save Our Streets has been spearheaded by the Crown Heights Community Mediation Center, the same group that commissioned the powerful anti-gun violence mural last year.
State Senator Eric Adams made a short and eloquent statement about the shootings and violence in the community.
It was a brief demonstration, and we hope there won't be another Shooting Response for a long while. Just in the last month, there have been shootings on Eastern Parkway and Schenectady and on Park Place and Franklin.
For information on S.O.S. - Save Our Streets Crown Heights, you can call 718-679-9410 or check the website of the Crown Heights Community Mediation Center.
