Peggy Lattimore-Rivera held a baby boy wrapped in a blanket as she spoke Sunday evening.
The baby was the son of her nephew, Dreshawn Cooper, a 19-year-old who was found shot to death in June near Oliver and Greene streets. His case remains unsolved.
The grieving aunt addressed a group of more than 30 people who had congregated in a grassy lot next to Unity Barber Shop on Pontiac Street.
“Enough is enough,” she said. “These babies need a mother and a father.”
The remembrance was one of many held around the country to mark the year anniversary of the shooting outside a Tucson, Ariz., grocery store that left six dead and wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. The nationwide effort was sponsored by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.
Like Lattimore-Rivera, many in the crowd knew someone who was a victim of gun violence in Fort Wayne. They had come to remember these loved ones and to call for an end to the killing.
As cars motored by on Pontiac, the candlelight vigil started with a prayer for peace and then a hymn.
“Father, help your children,” sang Dorothy Tanksley. “Don’t let them fall by the side of the road, and teach them to love one another.”
Among those who spoke was Mari Love, an IPFW student, who recently started a group against violence called YADADA, Young Adults Demanding a Different Approach.
“My biggest mission is to change this mindset, to be OK to walk away from these conflicts,” she said. “Words don’t hurt you.”
Foundation One, co-owner of Unity Barber Shop, helped organize the gathering along with the local NAACP chapter.
In November, the barber with the unconventional name held a similar event that used paper cutouts to represent the area’s 773 homicide victims since 1980.
In 2011, Allen County saw 24 homicides; 14 were the result of gunshot wounds.
“Let us all just be peaceful. That’s my favorite word,” Foundation One told the crowd Sunday.
Paulette Nellems, president of the local NAACP, ended Fort Wayne’s vigil with a simple message.
“We just ask the community to stop the violence,” she said. “It’s too many victims.”
