Posted on 03/22/2008 9:38:30 AM PDT by kiriath_jearim
ALBANY, N.Y. -- Allison Banks stands with friends on the street where her son Elleek Williams was shot and killed.
"It was uptown-downtown," she said. "My son changed his life, you know, at the end of his life. Yes, he was a kid running the streets of Albany, and as we know, this is what goes on."
But before he got the chance to pursue his new ambitions, including working with kids, Williams was gunned down on Sheridan Avenue.
He was celebrating his 24th birthday. And just last week, the man charged with killing him, Dushan Wilson, was found not guilty.
Banks said, "Then it just hit me that the boy that murdered my son just walked and is free."
She said the outcome should have been different, and would have if the Albany County District Attorney's office put more effort into prosecuting the case.
Banks said, "My son's murder, to me, wasn't important enough to the DA. While he was down in Florida trying to prosecute steroids, people for using steroids, he should have been here taking care of what's going on here."
The DA's office says the case was prosecuted by one of their most experienced assistant district attorneys who presented the jury with the best case possible.
After her son died, Banks joined Albany's Gun Violence Task Force and the Capital Region chapter of New Yorkers Against Violence. She said she'll keep fighting for justice.
"There's no way that this is going to be considered another black on black crime, you know, just another statistic," she said. "I'm not one of those kind of mothers. I'm not going to rest until I see justice is done."
Banks said she doesn't want the community to forget about the way her son was killed or about any of the other people gunned down in the streets of Albany. That's why she hopes to turn an empty lot into a memorial in their honor.
Banks said, "There's been so much attention that there was a murder here. You know, there has to be something of life, so turn it into an urban garden where the kids can come and plant and help to nurture something."
Third Ward Leader Ron Bailey said, "Kids have to walk past here every day. If this is a memorial park for kids to come and look, they need to come here and stand here and think about what happened."
Gun Violence Task Force Co-Chair Rev. Dr. Edward B. Smart said, "Our future is at stake. These young people who are getting killed. These families that are getting ripped apart because justice is not being served. We think that we all ought to be concerned about this."
They say getting community members to line up to take a stand against gun crimes is the first step to stopping them from seeing more police lines from hanging in the neighborhood.
At least she didn’t say anything about gun control, though I wonder if that is what was implied in this article.
And here a couple beat the girl’s father to death with a TENNIS RACKET. Guns are not the problem. Knives can kill. Poison can kill. You can beat someone to death with a baseball bat. There was a boy killed with a blow to the head by “the club” that you lock your steering wheel up with. You can use a crowbar to kill someone. People have been beaten to death by being punched and kicked....
You can drug someone and suffocate them....
it is all over the news daily...
you can run over your husband three times
etc.
Another American saying of law enforcement, including the courts;;;piss on the victims
Yep. Next week he was going to change his life. Turn it around. Make a fresh start. Do the right thing.
Next week. No later than next month, for sure. Promise.
My prayers that the Lord be with her in her grief.
Did this take place in an area with Black Segregationist Churches and Preachers?
"My son changed his life, you know, at the end of his life..." But before he got the chance to pursue his new ambitions including working with kids (blah, blah, blah)
Stuff it lady. It doesn't work anymore. He wasn't a "good boy" and he wasn't "turning his life around". Your son was just another thug.
WAIT, oh god no!!! I'm being a .. "Typical White Person"!! /s
Elleek?
I admire your restraint. :)
"Adams said Wilson also visited her at her home, explaining that it was Williams who shot him earlier that year. He offered her thousands of dollars to keep quiet, she testified."
"She identified Wilson as a member of the Jungle Junkies gang, based in West Hill and Arbor Hill. She previously has said Williams hung around the South End-based Original Gangsta Killas gang."
One gang banger shooting another as payback. NHI.
So, he was 24 and still doing nothing but "hanging around." That is why he was shot to death. No other reason. That is why the other gang banger risked life in prison. He saw poor Dushan and just opened fire. Dushan was completely innocent, had not provoked anyone or done anything at all.
Right...
Virgin, are you?
What we’ll never know is just how many people this piece of dung killed himself while “running the streets of Albany”.
Well, she joined a gun control group and they used her for a propaganda piece, that ought to give you a clue.
I think I smell a new tagline
He who lives by the sword, dies by the sword.
It's a simple fact that boys and young men will never respect the authority of a woman alone.
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