Rally In Harlem Calls For Safer Streets Day After High School Senior Taquan Jones Shot And Killed
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - Gun violence in New York City claimed the life of another teenager, and the young victim's community marched for safer streets.
As CBS2's Dave Carlin reports, Harlem parents, anti-violence advocates and elected officials demonstrated on the streets Wednesday evening. It was a show of solidarity against violence that included stops at crime scenes, and moments of prayer.
Of urgent concern: Those killed include kids. The latest is 17-year-old Taquan Jones, a high school senior shot and killed Tuesday afternoon in Harlem.
Resident Ali Rawls was near the corner of Lenox Avenue and West 132nd Street Tuesday and close enough to hear the moment the gun was fired by an unidentified suspect who fled, leaving Jones fatally shot in the chest.
"One shot. There was one shot," Rawls said.
Jones' life was taken about an hour after classes let out at Harlem Renaissance High School.
"It's senseless because a child can get killed. Your mother can get killed, because it can be a stray bullet," Rawls said.
At the slain teen's high school, an announcement was made that brought some classmates to tears.
"It was shocking," one student said. "A moment of silence for him... it was quite for a minute and we resumed our work.... Some people went home. They had the counselors to talk to them if they needed to talk."
The community action had been planned before Jones' killing, part of a series of scheduled demonstrations - one for every borough.
