An Oakland, Calif. woman lost two sons to gun violence in the span of just 19 days in January.
According to CNN, the youngest son of Dinyal New, 13-year-old Lee Weathersby III, was approached on Jan. 1 by a gunman while on his way home from a Boys and Girls Club meeting. The youth was shot 28 times; it is unclear why he was targeted.
New said she saw reports that day of a teen being shot, nothing new in that city. Hours later, she was in a hospital identifying her son’s body.
After Weathersby’s death, New said she wanted her oldest son, 19-year-old Lamar Broussard to move, but he assured her he was fine.
On Jan. 19, New asked Broussard to go pay her cell phone bill. While he was gone, New received numerous phone calls that there had been a shooting nearby.
As she ran to the location, just 20 yards away, she saw Broussard’s car shot up with bullets. Three days after laying her youngest son to rest, New lost her second child to gun violence.
“Emotionally it hasn’t hit me yet, but I know it will because I keep thinking about them,” New told CNN in a tearful interview.
“I’m tired of it,” said mortuary assistant Todd Walker, 52. “I’m the one who sees them firsthand at the coroner’s office. I’m the one who’s got to identify them right off the top. The mother’s calling you: How does their kid look? Sometimes the kid’s been shot up so bad they can’t even identify them. It’s real sad.”
Oakland police would not confirm whether the murders of the two youths were gang-related; however, due to their family relation, police indicated that their deaths could be connected.
