Buffalo community responds to shooting of six teens

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — “Who should bury their 14-year-old? You know you want them to live,” Marnetta Malcolm said as she reacted to the shooting death of a 14-year-old Buffalo girl.

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Malcolm, a community advocate, tells me “it’s heartbreaking” to learn that Jazzmine Fomby, 14, of Buffalo, was killed over the weekend when she and five other teenagers were shot on the East of Buffalo, along Alexander Place.

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“What happens on the East Side impacts Buffalo. What happens in Buffalo impacts Western New York and, by the way, it’s not a Buffalo thing. it’s a national thing. you know, you see these kinds of murders everywhere,” Malcolm replied.

“This is a cycle of violence that must be interrupted,” Garnell Whitfield responded.

Whitfield is someone who knows firsthand the impacts of gun violence. He lost his mother two years ago in the Jefferson Avenue Tops Mass. shooting.

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Whitfield tells 7 News that shootings, like last weekend, have been happening in our community for a long time, defining gun culture and “systemic racism.”

“When people don’t expect life to be better, different, then they resort to violence, they resort to it by any means necessary. They make bad decisions,” Whitfield remarked.

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“We just have to be categorical about education and security, as long as like gun violence,” said Tanesha Ali, Most Valuable Parents of Buffalo.

But some organizations, like Most Valuable Parents of Buffalo, known as MVP, work with adults to help families prevent violence.

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“To combat this problem, there are many resources available, but if they don’t know about it, it doesn’t make sense to provide access and awareness. to get the help they need,” Ali noted.

But these organization leaders tell me that everyone needs to come together—teens, parents, grandparents, community members—to fight the gun violence that is unfortunately a reality for some urban teens.

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“If you can mentor a child, if you can get involved, identify, maybe an organization that you can go to and help, sit down and talk, but it still has to be money, because guess what ? What stood out to me growing up here were some of the teachers,” Malcolm said. “I think we need to start by interacting and engaging with each other.”

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“It’s about positive activities and flocking to these young people and if no one is flocking to them and you don’t have anywhere to go, there are no safe spaces, then, you know , you have situations where it becomes dangerous,” Ali described.

“And then we have to ask the kids – talk to them, you know, they must be devastated to have to repeatedly go through this type of trauma,” Malcolm said.

Buffalo Police told 7 News that while these recent incidents are shocking, gun violence has decreased significantly since it spiked in 2020.

The Buffalo Police Department provided the following shooting figures:

• In 2020, 347 people were shot in 287 incidents
• In 2023, 166 people were shot in 141 incidents
• In 2020, 47 people died in shooting homicides
• In 2023, 25 people were shot and killed

Buffalo police say they believe their strategy of sending patrol officers to hot spots for what they call “directed patrols” is helpful.

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