Community rallies against gun violence

Yumeka Spencer knows what it’s like to lose a child to gun violence.

Her son, Lawrence Williams IV, 22, was walking down McAllister Street around 2 a.m. on Nov. 2, 2019, when “some guys approached him, and they ended up shooting him,” Spencer said.

The murder remains unsolved.

“It’s something that I wish nobody ever has to go through,” she said.

On Saturday, Spencer was among about 150 people, most of them wearing T-shirts proclaiming “Thou Shalt Not Kill,” who marched almost a mile in the walk that began in the Green Clinic parking lot on Farmerville Street and ended with a rally at Zion Traveler Baptist Church on Martin Luther King Drive to urge an end to gun violence in Ruston.

“We need justice, and the community needs to come together and teach the new generation guns don’t stop anything,” Maria Williams said, as she buckled 1-year-old twins Kai and Krew Williams in their stroller.

The twins are the brothers of Lawrence Williams IV, Maria Williams’ nephew. “They actually still ask for him,” she said.

Families of at least two other shooting victims — Kemothy Starks, Jr., who was killed in March 2019 at a Bernice nightclub, and Jeffery D. Early, who was shot in January of this year at a party in downtown Ruston — participated in the walk.

“It was a great walk,” marcher DeAnthony Washington said. “You got the whole community, everybody with us. This should bring everybody together.”

The newly formed Ruston Coalition Against Violence sponsored Saturday’s event.

“We have to say ‘no,’ stop the violence. We’re going to take our community back. We’re going to care about each other,” coalition member and Ruston District 2 Alderwoman Angela Mayfield said. “This isn’t just an eastside problem or a westside problem. This is a Ruston problem.”

Rally participants asked residents to reach out to each other in love and respect and said the responsibility for stopping the violence belongs to the community.

“On this afternoon we’re gathered to let our light shine in the darkness when others are at their worst,” said Zion Traveler Pastor Maurice White. “Let’s move into action so our children will stop acting like animals on the streets of Ruston.”

Both Ruston Police Chief Steve Rogers and Lincoln Parish Sheriffelect Stephen Williams asked residents to help their agencies by providing information that could help solve crimes.

“If you know anything — it may be the most simple thing — but that may be what solves the crime,” Rogers said.

Coalition members said they plan to sponsor more community events and want to set up an anonymous hotline for local youths to call and leave tips about both crimes that have already occurred and ones that may be in the offing.