Eighth annual rally to curb gun violence brings out hundreds
Some 500 marchers urging an end to gun violence braved threatening clouds and a forecast of rain to take part in the 8th annual Million Mom March in Mott Haven on Saturday May 11th.
Eighteen mothers and fathers who had lost family members to gun violence over the years joined the march, including event founder and organizer Gloria Cruz. A stray bullet killed Cruz’s niece, Naisha Pearson in 2005, while the girl played in Saw Mill Park on 139th St.
Shouts of “Save our streets, save our children, no more guns” echoed as the marchers wound their way from Saw Mill Park to Peoples Park on 141 St., where family members impacted by the violence, along with elected officials and clergy, addressed the crowd.
“I used to write to Mayor Bloomberg and everybody,” to urge them to push for tighter gun control laws, to no avail, said Leola Hayes, who lost her son Darryl Jawan Hayes 11 years ago. “But if it took 30 people in Newtown to get killed for them to get up there and do something, then I’m happy for them to do it.”
For some parents, finding their children’s’ killers remains a priority.
“We came to seek justice,” said Adela Moreira, while holding a framed photo of her son, Troy Zapata, who was shot and killed while running from gunfire outside Adams Houses in Melrose in 2008. The murder remains unsolved. Zapata, then 15, was a freshman at Herbert H. Lehman High School when he was killed.
“We want closure,” Moreira said.
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