Baltimore City school communities are mourning the lives of 11 students who were killed by gun violence since last May — and calling for further action to reduce that number to zero.
At the district’s seventh annual Peace and Remembrance ceremony on Thursday morning, school officials joined friends and family of the victims in front of the central office building.
A student choir from ConneXions Community Art School sang an acapella tribute. Community members held signs with each teenagers’ name to serve as a physical marker of the lives lost.
Attendees cried, hugged and stood in a moment of silence.
City Schools CEO Sonja Santelises said she takes “some solace” in knowing that last year, there were 18 students being honored at the community vigil.
“But it is still 11 lives,” she said. “These are 11 young lives lost, 11 families shattered and countless friends, classmates, and teachers devastated. We'll never know what these young men could have become.Because all their possibilities, all their talents, and all their wondrous potential was extinguished in an instant of senseless violence.”
A bell rang as Santelises read the name of each lost student aloud:
K’mauri Ebanks, 19, Bryson Hudson, 16, David Hamilton, 17, and Cormar Atkins, 16, from Digital Harbor High School. Kayshawn Campbell Roundheart, 18, from Eager Street Academy. Ivan Carlos Oseguera-Funez, 17, from Patterson High School.
Todd Cornish, 19, and Khaleel Jones, 16, from the Reach Partnership School. Rashid Maxwell Jr., 16, and Noah Gibson, 16, from Carver Vocational-Technical High School. Kamell Little, 14, from The Baltimore Academy.
Mayor Brandon Scott said it’s important to not grow numb to the number of lives lost to gun violence.
“We must continue to wrap our arms around their loved ones — their family, their friends, their school communities, their teachers, and everyone — as we continue that healing, and work to stop the cycle of violence in our communities,” he said.
Scott said the goal is to “work until we don't have to have this event.”
Amonie Deloach, a senior at City Neighbors High School, performed a spoken word piece to advocate for violence reduction.
“My life belongs in God’s hands, shouldn’t be taken by some unholy man,” Deloach said. “Put down that rifle, let’s stop the cycle.”
