Amid the perplexed stares and pit bulls leashed with chains, the American Friends Service Committee held a silent vigil for another youth slain by gunfire. About thirty men and women— both black and white—stood silently on the comer of McCulloh and Dolphin Streets, near where Devron Baker, 17, was shot at point-blank range while sitting on a bench.
The child’s family was there: his mother, grandmother, and brother. Joanne Carver, a family friend, spoke for the family. “We are still trying to get over this,” she said, “as I have said and will always say, he was a quiet boy who never bothered nobody.”
“It would be nice if we never had to do another one of these,” said Dominique Robinson, spokesman for the Quakers, “but there will be others.” This was the second such protest this year, she said.
The last vigil for a slain
youth had been in February. “Everyone pays attention to Columbine,” she continued, “but this occurs routinely here.”
According to the police, Baker had been accosted by two men and shot several times in the afternoon of June 6th. He had been sitting near the basketball court beside Booker T. Washington Middle School. Two men have been arrested for the shooting. Derrick Ray, 21, and Donnell Hughes, 19 have been charged with first-degree murder. Ray, who lives at 903 N. Monroe Street, was arrested the day of the shooting. Hughes, who lives at 3525 Reistertown Road, was arrested on June 10th.