Lorain memorial walk looks to honor lives lost to gun violence

LORAIN — For the past several years, Cassandra Marr has walked to West 22nd Street and Beech Avenue on July 2. It is not a long walk — about 10 blocks in the summer heat, down cracked roadways, past rows of aging homes. But it is a heavy one. "I'm not even sure when it started, but my son had this habit of always saying 'I love you,'" Marr said. "... Those were the exact last words only because that was what we did — and you can't take life for granted." Marr's son, KeShawnDrae Carter, 19, was shot and killed July 2, 2017, in a drive-by at that intersection. He and his girlfriend were coming back from church. This year, Marr will continue the walk but along a different route. At 11 a.m. July 2, Marr will host the Together We Heal memorial walk at United Way of Greater Lorain County's Broadway office. Still in memory of Carter, the walk now encompasses all those in Lorain County lost to gun violence over the years. Marr is United Way's continuum of care coordinator. She broached the idea with her organization and found they were completely on board, she said. United Way Advocacy and Impact Initiatives Manager Maya Woodward used information from the National Gun Violence Memorial, a nonprofit that catalogs gun deaths across the country, to estimate the number of people killed in Lorain County to at least 200 since 2015. The names of those killed, according to the National Gun Violence Memorial, will be read aloud, Woodward said. The walk this year will start at United Way, 642 Broadway, and travel up Broadway to Veterans Memorial Park, at Washington and West Erie avenues, for a brief program in the park. Start W/Art students will dedicate paintings to several victims; Imam Paul Hasan will speak alongside Mayor Jack Bradley and Bradley's daughter Jaclyn, will perform her song "Hometown." The walk is for victims of gun violence — in memory of those killed, and as a helping hand for those harmed. Phrases like "stop the violence" are not part of reality, Marr said, but there is a need to stick together and support one another. "We're neighbors, co-workers, we go to the same church, shop at the same stores," she said. Carter was Marr's oldest. She got pregnant with him while in her last year at The Ohio State University. She took some time off from school and moved back to a little apartment in Elyria, but soon she and Key were making weekly trips via Greyhound bus to Columbus for her classes. At 1 year old, he was in the audience as Marr crossed the stage at graduation. As he grew, the boy better known to friends and family as "Key" was a regular volunteer at the Salvation Army in Lorain and at New Mount Calvary Baptist Church on Sundays. On that warm Sunday afternoon eight years ago, Marr became part of a group of women she never expected to join: Mothers who have buried their sons. Others knew before she did that Carter was dead, she said. She did not attend the same church as him that day and remembered she saw a commotion down West 22nd Street but did not know at the time it was her son. When she got to Mercy Health, she found out in front of a room full of people, she said. Losing her son 18 years after those weekly bus rides to Columbus was never planned, but Marr knows no one is here forever. In the years since, she has leaned heavily on her faith to quell the anger she held. "I had to basically challenge myself — if I believe what I've been taught, that life is precious and at any given moment it can be taken, I had to accept that that was unfortunately the way it happened," she said. "Regardless of how, when and where, I just believe that our time is destined as far as this was the day that was chosen." Gevonte Thomas, 22, pleaded guilty to Carter's death. He was sentenced to more than 17 years in prison. Marr remembered Thomas apologized to her during his sentencing and told her Carter was a good man — he was not the target of Thomas' bullet, just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Now, Marr and her family hurt, and so do Thomas,' she said. That community is at the center of Marr's effort on July 2. Others will be able to share their stories, she said, and remember lives cut short or changed by injuries. Lorain is small enough that families on both sides of that gun violence know one another, she said. "Whether you're the shooter, the victim, we're both impacted and we both need each other to get through tough times," Marr said. "... Wear your loved ones' T-shirt, button, bring a banner, we're walking together as a community." Beyond the walk, Marr is organizing an emergency relief fund in her son's honor. A collection drive is underway for KeShawnDrae Carter's Helping Hands Initiative Fund, which will provide emergency stop-gap assistance to those in need. The Community Foundation of Lorain County will match donations to the fund up to $2,000. "My son, people who know him will definitely agree with me, he was all about love," Marr said. "Very kind-hearted, just always willing to help people. He helped me many days at the Salvation Army (giving) out food and working at the pantry and so forth." She first looked at a scholarship to help local teens attend a culinary arts program — as her son spent hours watching the Food Network and sharing his passion for cooking with friends and family — but she did not want the initiative to be too limited. Once it is up and running, the fund will be a "gap filler," Marr said, such as covering gas or grocery cards for families who have hit hard times but may not qualify for other assistance programs. As of Monday afternoon Marr had raised about $800 of the $5,000 goal for the fund. "We may not get a lot of money, but whatever we get, we're going to be grateful for and we're going to use it to help the people in the communities," Marr said. For more information about the Together We Heal memorial walk or to donate to KeShawnDrae Carter's Helping Hands Initiative Fund visit patronicity.com/healwalk. Cash or check donations may be dropped off or mailed to United Way of Greater Lorain County with "heal walk" in the memo. Contact Carissa Woytach at (440) 329-7245 or cwoytach@chroniclet.com.