'All lives should matter,' mother of slain Long Beach man says at vigil Thursday night

Long Beach ministers, community leaders and the family of a man killed in a shooting Monday night held a vigil Thursday to launch a campaign aimed at combating violent crime.

At least 150 people attended the 7 p.m. vigil at Rosa Parks Park, just two blocks from where Delhaun Jackson was fatally shot and three others wounded near Alamitos Avenue and 17th Street.

“All lives should matter,” said Sherrell Weatherton, Delhaun’s mother, at the vigil to cheers and applause. “Anyone can pick up a gun, but it takes heart to be the right thing. We’ve got to do better, be more active in making our young people accountable. [Delhaun] had the right to hang out with his friends.”

Just days before, Delhaun spent hours preparing food for his son Joshua’s first birthday, Weatherton said. Now he will never see his son walk.

Jackson’s family have set up a GoFundMe page with a $5,000 goal to raise money for funeral expenses and to assist with Joshua’s care. The page has raised $887 as of Thursday night.

Jackson’s death is part of a trend of increasing violent crime in Long Beach since 2015. Crime statistics for that year showed double digit spikes in violent and property crimes overall, according to the Long Beach Police Department’s official data.

Last year, the city saw 36 murders, the highest rate since 2009.

The Long Beach Police Department has recorded 10 murders to date in 2016, said Marlene Arrona, a police spokeswoman, in an email. That number does not include a fatal stabbing on Metro Blue Line’s Wardlow Station April 15, which falls under Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department jurisdiction. Nor does it include the fatal officer-involved shooting of Martin Hurtado on March 10.

Pastors at Thursday’s vigil made several calls to action, asking those present to engage their friends, family, neighbors and people they know in the community in a violence interruption project called #awakenLB.

The project has three goals:

• Activate the community to engage existing violence prevention processes and mechanisms currently being provided through he city and private sectors.

• Become more articulate regarding the authentic needs of their particular community for policing, support, employment and housing.

• Champion and mediate proactive conversations between potential violence perpetrators.

Organizers hope #awakenLB will spread to all communities in Long Beach that are impacted by violence.

More to come.

Advertisement