After 3-yr-old Devin Page Jr. was killed by a stray bullet late Tuesday night while asleep in his own bed, East Baton Rouge Parish Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome released a statement asking for a week of peace starting on Good Friday (Mayor’s full statement below). However, Baton Rouge Police have already responded to three shootings and a stabbing one day into her requested ‘week of peace’.
On Saturday, April 16, 2022, starting at 1am, BRPD officers were called out to the the 4700 block of Underwood Ave. A woman called police saying her boyfriend shot up her home.
Just before 3am, officers responded to the City Town Meat Market on N. Sherwood Forest Blvd. for a 45-yr-old man shot once. Although he was shot on N. Sherwood Forest Blvd., the victim then rode his bicycle back to his home on Cletus Dr. to call police. He was transported to a hospital. Officers did find at least four shell casings outside the City Town Meat Market.
Not even 15 minutes later, there was another shooting, unrelated, in the Waffle House parking lot on College Dr. Early indications appear an argument led up to someone in a vehicle shooting at people in the restaurant’s parking lot. No injuries were reported.
Then, just before 7am on S. Sherwood Forest Blvd. at the Circle K, a man was stabbed in his leg.
Unfiltered with Kiran spoke to two mothers who lost children to gun violence, the mother of 3-yr-old Devin Page Jr. & Vanessa Clark.
Clark’s 29-yr-old son was killed in Nov. 2021 after he was shot three times. She called out the BRPD chief & mayor saying neither are doing enough.
Clark said because of all the crime in the Capital City, she “hates Baton Rouge” but has to stay because her parents live in the city.
“Not enough is happening to prevent all the crime in this city. Every day, someone is being shot or killed. The mayor should be able to do more than she’s doing. All these meetings they keep calling to stop gun violence, well it’s not working. I don’t care who they need at this point. Call in the National Guard or whoever because the Baton Rouge Police Dept. can’t handle the crime alone. There aren’t enough homicide detectives to handle all the murders going on in Baton Rouge and mothers like me become the true victims not once but twice. I already lost my son. I ask the chief and mayor, how would you feel if your own child was murdered? I bet you wouldn’t sit on it this long,” said Clark.
Soon after Page was shot and killed, Mayor Broome released a statement:
The tragic overnight killing of a young child on Fairfields Avenue is a sad reminder that our community has a long way to go in addressing gun violence. This tragedy is beyond unacceptable. Someone in our community knows who is responsible and they must come forward.
At this moment our community needs to refocus. Beginning Good Friday I am calling for a Week of Peace. Week over week community members join together in planning activities of hope, but there is a small percentage that still continue to choose violence.
I implore individuals to settle their disputes with words rather than with violence. The outcomes from choosing violence are never hopeful. Choose hope and choose peace.
Leave a Reply