BUFFALO, N.Y. — When something like Friday’s shooting on Domedion Avenue happens among the youth, Murray Holman with Stop the Violence Coalition says we need to speak to the youth.
The organization gathered a group of 14 to 20-year-old students at an after-school program Wednesday night to answer a pressing question facing the City of Buffalo: should a 14-year-old be charged as an adult?
“We’ve got to get back to the dining room table of just sitting there and just having a conversation with your kids,” Holman said.
The students and their mentors have been meeting for three months as a part of a county-funded intervention program to discuss violence among youth. Friday’s shooting in Schiller Park was their primary discussion of conversation Wednesday.
The meeting came just over 24 hours after two teenage boys — ages 14 and 16 — were arrested for the murder of 3-year-old Ramone Carter. Authorities say the teenagers were targeting someone else when they shot and killed the young boy and grazed his 7-year-old sister.
In response to the violence, Holman wanted to hear from the students, giving them an opportunity to voice their opinions on the violence and the potential consequences.
Isaiah Green, 18, was confident in his answer.
“I’ve got a four year old sister. That's disgusting to me,” he said. “If it was my little sister, I would do everything I could to get them in jail. … They should spend some time and grown up jail because obviously juvenile detention centers not scare nobody.”
But 15-year-old Nuri Muhammad didn’t think it was so simple.
“I would give them a second chance,” he said. “Most of the time, we don't have any guidance. And then we look at all these other rappers and role models, and they're not doing the right thing. So since there isn't really guidance in your life, you look at all these other people. That's not doing the right thing. And then you feel like it's okay to follow.”
Holman is seeking to provide a different path that the students realize they can follow, hoping that if they’re ever faced with a situation like Friday, they’ll think back to the discussion they had and know there’s another choice.
“Even though you might be struggling or even if it's got to deal with gun violence or drugs or anything, you still have time to change your life around,” Muhammad said. “I don't think it's too late because it's never too late to change your life around.”