Weekend shooting of six teens sparks debate: 'Do kids have enough to do?'

Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - "We have to find something for these kids. They really don't have anything" said Marnetta Malcolm. "They don't have community centers."

Malcolm said she is devastated by the violence that rang out on Alexander Place on Saturday night that left a 14-year-old girl dead, and five other teens wounded.

After growing up in the Jefferson Avenue community on Buffalo's East side,
Malcolm organized "Jefferson Avenue Friday Night Live" after the Tops mass shooting with music, food trucks, vendors and community resources, every Friday during the summer months. She did it to fill a void in the community.

She said a void exists today for kids.

"That's my community. I went to countless centers as a child that are closed now. We have great organizations today, but they lack funding and resources to be successful," said Malcolm during an appearance with "BMaz and Beamer" on WBEN on Monday.

"This is not just a Jefferson Avenue thing. When we lose a child in the community, it doesn't just affect that neighborhood. It affects everybody. No one should be burying their 14 year old child."

Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown could not disagree more that there is not enough for young people to do. That's no excuse, he said during an appearance on WBEN on Monday.

"I don't want to blame any victims or any families that are going through a terrible trauma right now. But I can tell you that growing up when I was a kid, and sure that was a different time, but when I was 14, 15 and 16, I was not out at house parties at 11 at night. That just didn't happen. It wasn't tolerated by my parents and as much as I might have wanted to go to a party, I wasn't allowed to do so," said the mayor.

Malcolm added that when she was growing up, she had better be where she said she was going to be or she would face the wrath of her parents. But at age 14, she was home. Going out, she said, was not an option.

In just over a week, the community will mark two years since the horrific Tops mass shooting on May 14.

Brown said the weekend shooting, only six blocks away, has re-opened existing wounds.

"It's painful," he said. "It's personal, for many of us, coming so close to the anniversary of that horrific racially motivated mass shooting."