ATLANTA — A community is working to find a way to move a mother and her children out of Atlanta’s West End neighborhood after a deadly double shooting on Election Day.
The gunfire left Raquavious Ferguson,18, dead and a 14-year-old in critical condition.
It happened near Joseph E. Lowery Blvd. and Morehouse College.
Ferguson’s family said he was out playing basketball when bullets began flying around 4:15 p.m. in the afternoon.
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“He lives three minutes from here. His mother came to the scene, and Ms. Shayla saw her son face down and not being tended to,” said Keith Lewis.
Lewis operates an organization called I am a Father F1rst. He mentored her son, Raq, for six years.
“He had to grow up fast, real fast,” said Lewis. “Since he was 14 years old, had to be a partial provider for a household, you know what I mean?”
Lewis met Channel 2′s Courtney Francisco Sunday where the shooting happened to discuss efforts to move the Ferguson family to a spot they feel safer.
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“This is a spot you ride through, you don’t stand in,” said Lewis. “This is the longest I’ve stood here in 25 years.”
While there, neighbors described seeing the shooting. They said children were fighting on the street. They said Ferguson appeared to be trying to de-escalate the situation when several of the children pulled out guns and began firing.
“To think his life is gone all because of a fight, all because kids have access to guns,” said Lewis.
Toys and balloons marked the spot it happened. Loved ones lit candles there Sunday night, and Lewis vowed to shine a light on the problems here.
“I know every kid around here got a gun,” said Lewis.
He said strangers have stepped up with an online fundraiser to try to help the family through their trauma.
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