TULSA, Okla. (KTUL) — No stranger to violence, in 1921 the Vernon AME church witnessed and was nearly destroyed by the Tulsa Race Massacre. Last Saturday violence visited again.
“Vernon is a crime scene,” said Associate Pastor Francetta Mays, explaining how the gunfire that resulted in several injuries and a fatality rang out in front of the church.
“There were five to eight people or more that was actually injured right across the street from our church. There were four of our members that were hit by the ricochet and we lost some chips of our church, the concrete of our church,” she said.
“Isaiah Knight he was a very close friend of mine,” said Wesley Moman.
What was 21 year-old Wesley’s reaction to the death of his friend?
“Being a young man that come from a pretty rough background, and I come from the streets and stuff like that, my very first thoughts was revenge and do some stuff that don’t need to be done. But then once I set back and had a few thoughts and I had to sleep on it, that’s some stuff you just gotta let God handle,” he said.
And dealing with the aftermath was part of the reason for the community meeting at Vernon AME.
“Two of the members here at Vernon were hit by fragments while we were on the porch, and I myself had to take cover and was skinned and bruised up as the gunman was less than 10 feet from me,” said Pastor Keith Mayes.
One measure to hopefully calm downtown, a new curfew which the mayor supports.
“I do think it’s going to protect young people not just, it ain’t just because I think more people are going to get shot downtown, my goal is to make sure that’ll never happen again, but there’s a whole host of other safety issues that are prevalent down there at that time of night,” said Mayor Nichols.
“The little curfew stuff really isn’t going to matter because as you can see the suspect that’s in custody right now, that curfew wouldn’t have applied to him whatsoever,” said Moman.
A search for answers to the violence, with a curfew just one piece of a larger puzzle.
“We are all not about violence and killing, some of us are actually about unity in the community,” said Moman.
“If you don’ t get involved you should be scared. But if you get involved you ain’t got nothing to be scared of, and so I’m asking you to get involved,” said Mayor Nichols.
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