USA
Malek Mercer, just going to get shot
Shortly before his 16. Birthday was shot and killed Malek Mercer. The killer had it apart on his belt. An everyday murder. And probably not a reason for stricter gun laws. From Washington, Ines Pohl.
A victim of indiscriminate gun violence: The young Mercer was killed by a shot in his neck
A vacuum cleaner, large fan, black sofa with black white pillow in Zebra look, with a TV. This is everything that is in Sharon Becks living room. The social apartment is located in Oxon Hill, Southeast of Washington. The carpet is beige and a little stained. The walls are empty. To the large area to your left when you come through the door.
A large Smile outshines the feeling of lostness that comes over you when you enter the room. Photos of Malek Mercer as a Baby, as a toddler, as a Teenager, with his buddies, his cousin, on the Arm of his mother, with a Rocker gesture, a baseball cap and headphones dangling casually over the ears.
The photos are round, square or heart-shaped, glued with adhesive Tape on white cardboard. Decorated with signatures and Wishes in different colors of friends, and his family. A Collage made by his classmates. Also, the teacher has signed. In between, a sparkling Happy-Birthday-balloon sticks, flat, without any filling. He is from the past year. Over all, a filled balloon floats. On the wall is a small table leaning with candles.
Mother Sharon Becks: “How many children have to die before something finally happens?”
Malek had no Chance
Malek Mercer was 15 years old when he died. A week before his 16. Birthday Unknown shot him in the Neck. In the Bus there was a squabble, his friends tell, the man had wanted to Maleks design belt.
For three days, Malek fought for his life. The brain then failed permanently. The devices were switched off. He had no Chance. The shot had shattered his spine, the supply of the brain to be demolished. On the day the school summer holidays had begun. Three days later, he would have been 16 years old.
Mother Sharon Becks had bought the birthday present already. A wrist watch with a Superman dial. Even as a child, Malek Superman had loved. The PM has given Sharon with him to the grave. A Superman sticker from the car of his older brother.
Before Malek Mercer went that day to school, he said goodbye as always. “He hugged me tightly and said that he loves me,” recalls Sharon. “Then he went away, and I went to work. I didn’t know, of course, that would be the last kiss or last hug from him. He adopted me and says that he loves me.”
“Nothing is safe here”
Sharon Becks slips into the present tense when she talks about how she has embraced her son for the last Time. So many nights she had been afraid of him in his wild Phase. But in the past year, he had become sensible, by rail through the worst times of his adolescence, she says. “I actually Worry more about him. And then it happened. Nothing is safe here. It’s crazy.”
Large-scale RAID against street gangs: the murder of Malek Mercer was advised as often with the police in conflict
Washington DC is a dangerous place, especially for young black men. Alone in the Metropolitan area of Washington, 202 people died in the last year of their gunshot wounds. Therefore, Sharon Becks wanted out necessarily, far away from the neighborhoods where the people are poor, are black, and where most is shot.
Preferably, the 43 would move away-Year-old and your children take. She has a son and two daughters. And two grandchildren. The youngest, Mason, was born two months before the death of Maleks. The infant is often with her. Gives her strength and hope.
Fatal Free Gear
There is no Morning, at the Sharon without tears in the eyes to Wake up. At Malek thinks and his killer Derryck Antjuan Decuir. A 22-Year-old who has been caught several times with the police in the conflict. Because of drugs dealerei, a stabbing and the illegal possession of weapons. Actually, he had been sentenced to three years in prison. On the night he shot and killed Malik, he was, however, just to be free. The police faste him only a few hours after the murder of Malek.
“It’s hard, the life of my son in years to compensate. But that is all, and what you can do to condemn the perpetrators more years in prison. It is simply very difficult.”
Sharon is fighting with the tears. And she struggles with her anger. She is tired of that every day young people die, even children, simply because “any types of shoot around in the area and the ricochet kill people”. Or because someone would like to have a belt, or a mobile phone. And, therefore, murder.
In the name of the victim: democratic deputies claim a tightening of the gun laws
“Violence by firearms is a big issue in Washington. There is a lot of talk about what you should do, but there is still a lot to many many Deaths. I want to see deeds, not just the chatter to hear.”, she calls in the name of all the victims of arbitrary violence.
Sit-in blockade in Congress
Also many members of the eternal debates in full. You no longer want to
stricter gun laws will discuss, during each day, on average, seven children and young people under 19 years, by force of arms, killed, per year, a total of 30,000 people in the United States. On Tuesday, the Democratic members of Congress want to practice again, civil disobedience and a sit-in in Parliament for stricter gun laws protest.
“How many of our children have to die before something finally happened?” Sharon Becks asks. Her eyes look as broken as your voice sounds. You don’t believe that anything will change. Too strong, too powerful the gun lobby. And the politicians are too scared to ruin it with their constituents. Sharon Becks concern is now, your other children and grandchildren. To lose “again a child, that’s hard, too hard.”