Davon McNeal’s senseless killing should serve as a breaking point
Each time a child is killed — a victim of senseless gun violence — the reaction is the same. There is an outpouring of grief and horror and anger. Vigils and marches are held. There are calls to end the madness. “#EnoughIsEnough” tweeted D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) after Makiyah was killed. “This is not normal. Something is wrong in Washington, D.C.” said the impassioned preacher at the packed funeral for Karon. “This is ridiculous. Our babies are being gunned down, and this has got to stop,” said Davon’s anguished grandfather.
This most recent killing, the heartbreaking loss of a boy about to enter seventh grade, who loved football and dreamed of one day playing for the NFL, should serve as a breaking point that prompts some real action in combating the gun violence that has long persisted in the city’s poorest neighborhoods. As of July 10, there have been 94 homicides in the District in 2020, an 18 percent increase compared to the same time last year.
D.C. is not alone in seeing a surge of violence in already hard-hit minority communities, and there clearly are no easy answers. Many factors, including deep-seated issues of social and economic inequity as well as the all-too-easy availability of illegal guns, contribute to violence. That, though, makes all the more important — and urgent — the need for the city to start treating this problem like the public emergency it is. Among the issues: Has the pandemic exacerbated the problem? Is this really the right time for the D.C. Council to make cuts to the police budget that will leave far fewer officers on the streets? Why does the city seem to be losing the battle against illegal guns? Is Police Chief Peter Newsham right that convicted felons who reoffend with gun crimes are treated with a leniency that places the public at risk?
Davon was shot while attending a “Stop the Violence” cookout organized by his mother, who works as a “violence interrupter” in mediating between gangs to resolve conflicts. His grandfather started a chapter of the Guardian Angels, which patrols streets, counsels offenders and serves as a role model to youth. That this young man fell victim to the very violence his family has worked to combat is maddening. “Who,” asked his grandmother, “ does this to a kid?”
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