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Families, clergy, lawmakers, activists call on Pennsylvania leaders in renewed gun reform push
The killing of a 15-year-old high school student on his way to classes Monday leads the city’s Black Clergy to call for a summit on violence as Philadelphia Democrats suggest new measures to press for gun reform.
NORTH PHILADELPHIA - New surveillance footage in the deadly shooting of a 15-year-old boy just released Thursday. In the video, four suspects police say are involved in the death of Devin Weedon. Police say they robbed him as he walked to school.
In the aftermath of the shooting, multiple groups, lawmakers and families of gun violence victims are calling on state leaders to make changes.
In the YMCA on North Broad Street in Philadelphia, Democratic politicians and activists gathered to argue. With Democrats now in control of the State House, gun reform measures are likely to pass the chamber. State representatives Malcom Kenyetta and Chris Rabb argued bills forcing gun owners to report when their weapons are lost or stolen, mandating safe storage of firearms and red flag laws, allowing guns to be taken from those who are a threat, will pass in the House they predict and save lives.
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The School District of Philadelphia reports 18 students have been killed since the start of the school year for a total of 88 students as the victims of violence. Meanwhile, Philadelphia police released surveillance video of 4 suspects believed linked to the killing of Devon Weedon on his way to Simon Gratz High School Monday.
Standing in support of those gathered at the Y, Marge LaRue, the grandmother of Nicholas Elizalde, the 14-year-old slain while leaving Roxborough High School in September. "For a 14-year-old to be shot and killed while he leaves a football game in broad daylight by juveniles with stolen guns that’s what we accept?" she said.
By early afternoon, just a few blocks up North Broad, members of the Black Clergy stood in front of the Zion Baptist Church. There they called for a city-wide summit on gun violence for April 15th at 10 a.m. at the church or at a nearby location.
Meanwhile, Dawan Williams, of the NOMO, a group offering support for children, urged parents to unexpectedly take the phone for their teens and notice them "going back and forth at each other online before it’s too late."