MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Community leaders are calling for legislative action in the wake of the shooting deaths of three children.
Jadon Knox, Ashlynn Luckett and Lequan Boyd were all shot and killed in suspected drive-by shootings earlier this month. No one has been arrested in these shootings, and community leaders say enough is enough.
“We know that the last thing any mother wants to do is bury her child. No mother wants to bury their child,” said activist Helen Collins.
The family of Ashlynn and Lequan now have the added worry of affording to bury them.
“They need some of the expenses paid,” said Shelby County Commissioner Van Tuner. “It’s been tough on the family and they reached out and we’re trying to do what we can as a community to assist with the proper burial of these two young people in our community.”
The funeral for Ashlynn and Lequan will be Saturday. The family has been relying on GoFundMes to help in the short term.
Community leaders say the support must go beyond that. It’s a fight they will take to Nashville, to ask for tougher gun regulations. But some say it’s going to take more if we want to stop burying babies.
“If we can regulate the bullets, because we will never get all the guns off the street that are out there,” Stevie Moore with Freedom From Unnecessary Negatives said. “You won’t get them, but if you regulate how many bullets you can buy and notate every time somebody buy a bullet.”
They say everyone must be involved in this fight.
“It takes a village to raise a child is what the statement says,” said Church of God in Christ Bishop Linwood Dillard, “but I also say that it takes a village to protect a child.”
Anyone who wants to help the family of Lequan Boyd and Ashlynn Luckett can click on these links to go their respective GoFundMe pages, or submit a donation directly to Jett’s Funeral Home, located at 203 Washington Street in Collierville. You can also call Jett’s Funeral Home at 901-853-2323.
The funeral for Jadon Knox will also be held on Saturday at New Life Baptist Church.
