His friends will no longer hear Timi sing or watch him land a shot on the basketball court. These statistics, however staggering, distance us from the human toll of gun violence, the trauma, fear, and devastation each senseless death sows.

His brother told him that there are people selling guns in the street for, what, $200 to $300, depending on how many bullets are left in the gun.” “Because Saturday night, one person told me that if you need to protect yourself, you can get a gun for free, with at least one to three bullets.

I asked a classmate of Timi’s how easy it was to get a gun in Brownsville. Guns are the leading cause of death for black children and teens. Black Americans are ten times more likely to die by gun homicide than white Americans. Our rate of gun homicide is 25 times that of other high-income countries, with deaths concentrated in urban communities with high rates of poverty. Every day, 96 Americans are killed by guns. There are more than 300 million guns in America, nearly one for every citizen. In April, Timi had joined students from across the country for the National School Walkout for Gun Safety, demanding action against gun violence. I think it is.” For they had all known one another a long time. He’d want us laughing or playing around.” He wouldn’t want us crying over his death or anything. We can’t show people that we are hurting we need to brighten the mood because that’s something Timi would want. “I told him we need to set an example and show other people that we are positive. was sad for a long time he was crying late that night,” Timi’s friend continued. Timi’s friend attempted to console another student that night. Everybody had some kind of interaction with him that made them grow.” “From what I know, he never gave up, when he set his mind to something. “He was a fun character, but determined,” said one of his closest friends, who was with him that afternoon in the playground and tried to save life. He was quiet and witty, and he was seldom without his basketball he was passionate about the sport. A dedicated student, he often stayed at school into the evening to study and meet with his teachers. Timi’s future was bright his favorite subjects in school were math and science, and he planned a career as a doctor or engineer. Thank you for always, always being at my side and having my back.”Ī week after he wrote this message, Timi was shot down in a playground just blocks from the school, the victim of a stray bullet. You are my mentor, my confidant, my hero. “You know me in ways no one else ever will. “There’s no bond like that between mother and child,” Oluwadurotimi (“Timi”) Oyebola, an eleventh-grade student at Brooklyn Ascend High School, wrote his mother on her birthday last month.

Happy birthday timi