Tulsa, okla. (Ktul) – No stranger to violence, in 1921, the Vernon America church was witness and was almost destroyed by the massacre of the Tulsa breed. Last Saturday, violence went again.
“Vernon is a crime scene,” said Pastor Associate Francetta Mays, explaining how the shots that led to several injuries and a death sounded in front of the church.
“There were five to eight or more people who were actually injured just in front of our church. There were four of our members who were struck by the ricochet and we lost a few tokens from our church, the concrete of our church,” she said.
“Isaiah Knight, he was a very close friend,” said Wesley Moman.
What was Wesley’s reaction, 21, on the death of his friend?
“Being a young man who comes from a fairly rough environment, and I come from the streets and stuff like that, my very first thoughts were revenge and I do things that do not need to be done. But once I found myself and I had some thoughts and I had to sleep on it, it’s stuff that you just have to let God manage,” he said.
And to face the consequences were part of the reason for the community meeting of Vernon Ame.
“Two of the members here in Vernon were struck by fragments while we were on the porch, and I myself had to hide and I was flayed and bruised when the shooter was less than 10 feet from me,” said Pastor Keith Mayes.
A measure to hope to calm the city center, a new curfew that the mayor supports.
“I think it will protect young people not only, it is not only because I think that more people will be shot in the city center, my goal is to make sure that this will not happen again, but there are a whole series of other security problems which are widespread there at that time at night,” said Mayor Nichols.
“The small curfew really does not matter because as you can see, the suspect who is in detention at the moment, this curfew would not have applied him to him,” said Moman.
A search for responses to violence, with a curfew just a piece of a larger puzzle.
“We are not all about violence and murder, some of us are in fact a question of unity in the community,” said Moman.
“If you do not get involved, you should be afraid. But if you get involved, you have nothing to be afraid, and therefore I ask you to get involved,” said Mayor Nichols.
