A Toronto community continues to grieve over the latest victim of gun violence in this city. Jahvai Roy was eight years old when he lost his life over the weekend after he was struck by a stray bullet.
Marcell Wilson met Jahvai’s family four to five years ago. The child would end up becoming the youngest member of Wilson’s anti-violence organization, the One-by-One Movement.
“He was a happy kid. He was energetic. He was genuinely a good kid, and he was very brave,” said Wilson. “The request from the mom for me to speak is for the purpose of Jahvai’s name becoming a beacon. A beacon of hope.”
In a Facebook post on Sunday, Jahvai’s mother, Holly broke her silence and tragically described her final moments with her child on Saturday night in their home on Martha Eaton Way in North York. He was excited for his best friend’s upcoming birthday celebration.
“We got ready for bed. Jahvai loved me so much, he brought me my water and insulin. He wanted to kick my back. We were in bed. He was laying beside me and then we heard the shots. Two shots,” read her post.
Holly said that it took a minute to realize that it wasn’t fireworks.
“My baby sat up. The last look he gave me was fear … I ran with my son’s lifeless body to my doorway. The devastation my kids witnessed. There was nothing I can do but scream and hold his lifeless little body. I cannot get that image out of my head,” read the post.
Jahvai was rushed to hospital, but sadly, he did not survive.
“From my observation, I would say there is still a great deal of shock. She’s still processing what’s going on,” said Wilson. “The hard part hasn’t even started, of her having to make arrangements and bury her eight-year-old boy.”
The weekend shooting happened in a North York community that has been privy to gun violence before. Last September, Mario Giddings, 15, was fatally shot in a plaza, steps away from his apartment building.
“How after something like this, do you go and talk to a community and address their young people that are emotionally damaged and traumatized from this kind of experience and explain to them that retribution is not the way? You become part of what you hate when you fall into the cycle,” said Wilson.
The hunt for those involved in the shooting continues. Police told CityNews on Monday there is still no suspect information.
“You can run for so long,” said Wilson. “Take it from someone who’s been down a similar path. It’s not just about cell walls, police closing in. The walls inside of you will start closing in. It will damage you. There’s no escaping it.”
With fears of retaliation, Wilson acknowledged there may be some who want to seek revenge but he said that would not represent Jahvai’s beacon of light.
“Jahvai wouldn’t want you to retaliate, he would want you to come together. He would want you to seek peace. If we’re going to honour Jahvai, we’re going to do that by honouring what he would have wanted. I ask and I beg for those who feel the need to let their rage out to find a positive way of doing that,” said Wilson. “So if you have any humanity, you made a mistake. I don’t believe that you shot and intended to kill an eight-year-old boy. Rectify that mistake, step up.”
Wilson is also calling for collective action to curb the gun violence narrative in the city.
“It’s not like we’re at the point where we’re asking what the problem is, how do we fix this, what are the root causes. We know all the answers to these things. What’s not happening is the application part. The pieces where communities are coming together. They’re still operating in silos. There’s still competitiveness amongst the organizations,” shared Wilson.
“There’s still disorganization from government sector to government sector. Why is it that we can’t pull all these things together in the name of people’s lives? Remove the politics, remove the racial divides, remove the cultural divides. This is not a them and us problem. This is an all of us issue.”
A GoFundMe page has been set up on behalf of Jahvai’s family. There will also be a solidarity rally for Jahvai this Friday at City Hall.
