Rev. Wendy Calderon-Payne of Bronx Connect prayed with Dominique, the mother of Wynn’s 3-month-old daughter, and the victim’s brother Sterling. “A lot of us are here asking for your mercy in this community, God,” said Wayne. “There has been enough bloodshed. We ask you to come into our community. Lord God, we need you, we need you.” As Payne continued her prayer, a cell phone went off to the ringtone of the eerie wild-west soundtrack from the Clint Eastwood film, “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.”

 

Also joining the mayor at the event was Eve Hendricks whose son, Brandon Hendricks, was an innocent bystander who was shot and killed at the age of 17 during a shooting on June 28, 2020 in nearby Morris Heights. A college scholarship has since been set-up in Brandon’s memory. Brandon was a talented and rising basketball star who was about to start his college career when his life was abruptly and tragically cut short.

With anti-violence advocates standing behind him, de Blasio said, “This is the change behind me, right here. Look at the faces of these good people who make up the Cure Violence movement and the Crisis Management System. This is the hope. This is the future, right here.”

 

The mayor continued, “I want to say The Bronx will not be defined by violence. The Bronx is about good people. The Bronx is about families. The Bronx is about strivers who work every day to help their children, and we’ve got to protect those children. These violence interrupters do the Lord’s work, truly. They don’t just talk. They go into the streets and connect with people. They change hearts. They change minds. They change [the] trajectory of lives.”

 

Recalling the days when the Bronx was burning in the 1970s, de Blasio then said, “They literally said, ‘Plow it under. Knock it down,’ because no one will live here again, and yet The Bronx rose again, like a phoenix from the ashes. The Bronx became stronger, and it will again.”

Looking to Gibson and Adams, de Blasio then added, “I have absolute and total faith in the people standing to my right. Vanessa Gibson, we’ve worked shoulder to shoulder now for years. She is going to help continue the transformation of The Bronx. She helped us make sure the Cure Violence movement and Crisis Management System rose and she’s one of the people who made it happen, and she will protect The Bronx.”

 

Despite being called out by Adams, days earlier, to appear in the Bronx, de Blasio praised the Democratic mayoral nominee, saying, “My faith in Eric Adams is total. He has walked the streets of this city and protected people. He spent more than 20 years of his life doing that thankless work during the worst of times in this city. A lot of people run for office, but they haven’t done anything worthy of that office. Eric Adams, long before he was elected to anything, had already served the people of this city, profoundly.”

 

De Blasio went on to praise Adams, citing his now, well known mantra on policing, as previously reported, “You can have safety, and you can have justice at the same time.” He called Adams the “original reformer,” and added, “God bless Eric Adams for that. You proved it can be done.”

 

In reference to the next mayoral inauguration ceremony and inferring that Adams would win the general election, the mayor then concluded, saying, “In a few months, on that day, January 1, when we pass the torch, this City will be stronger every single day thereafter, because I know whatever we have built, Eric will take it to the next level, and I say, God bless you and thank you Eric Adams.”

Adams then returned the kind words, saying of de Blasio, “From the beginning of the administration, he understood the combination of having the resources on the ground, and the goal is to build on that platform. So again, Mayor, thank you so much for the many conversations, and really putting the resources in, and listening to the people.”

 

He then said of Gibson, “We have not had a better partner on this issue. In a real way, she is tied not only professionally but emotionally to stop the violence in our streets.”

 

The Brooklyn borough president added that the Cure Violence programs like Bronx Connect / Release The Grip, Guns Down Life Up, Save Our Streets, Stand Up to Violence and others should be duplicated around the city.

 

Speaking to the anti-gun violence advocates behind him and to the residents of the block in front of him, Adams added, “Don’t view this shooting as a failure. View this shooting that we must continue the work that we are doing, and we will have a seamless transition to the next administration (and) continue the work that you are doing.”

As reported, a separate anti-gun violence rally was held on Wednesday, July 14, in Belmont, following the shooting on Sunday, July 11, of 13-year-old Jaryan Elliot in that neighborhood. A man, identified by one attendee at the rally as the boy’s godfather, disrupted, a number of times, the press conference held in advance of the rally, voicing his frustration with the gun violence epidemic, and his perception of the futility of the City’s response to it.

 

The mayor then spent several minutes talking to Wynn’s brother, Sterling. The two walked over to 1150 College Avenue, one of 28 buildings that make up NYCHA’s Claremont Consolidated housing complex and the two prayed at the site where Billy Wynn died.