First the stormy skies wept rain, then dozens of people, adults and children, wept tears at a vigil Monday for a who died of a gun wound.
A vigil for Anthony Jaliel Lujan Hemmings drew friends and classmates; politicians, pastors and police officers; his mother and grandfather and concerned community members and neighbors.
Dozens of people, mostly to escape the rain, crammed into Aurora’s Martin Luther King Jr. Library, 9898 E. Colfax Ave., awaiting the start of the vigil.
The boy’s body was found Friday night, a few blocks away, in his home. A police investigation is ongoing, but family members believe he accidentally shot himself.
Anthony Taylor, the boy’s grandfather, addressed the gathering. As he looked over his shoulder, he noted there were quite a few children behind him.
“Babies right here, this is what we call the light of the world,” Taylor said. “Anthony was the light of the family.”
Taylor read from Book of Matthew from the Bible: “In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”
He described Anthony as “a light of joy. He brightened all of us with joy.”
Anthony’s mother, Tanya Hemmings, was too distraught to speak.
She wept when she arrived before the start of the program, as people hugged and consoled her.
A group of boys, Anthony’s football mates, all wearing blue T-shirts, presented Hemmings with a football. She wept as she tucked the ball under her arm. The boys, about Anthony’s age, wept at various moments during the vigil.
State Rep. Rhonda Fields, who spoke at a “stop gun violence” rally Friday in Denver, again shared the story of losing her son, Javad Fields, and his fiancee, Vivian Wolfe, to gunfire.
“I know the pain you are feeling right now,” Fields said while looking at Hemmings. “I’ve been there. Enough is enough.”
Fields urged people at the vigil to support her in efforts to stop gun violence.
Aurora Police Chief Nick Metz asked Hemmings to look at all the faces in the crowd and gather strength from the group, estimated by police to be at about 300 people.
“Every single one of us shares a sense of responsibility,” Metz said.
Metz challenged those gathered to make a difference — “by coaching, by teaching, by voting” — in their community.
“Don’t leave here status quo,” Metz said.
Police at Monday’s vigil did not release any new details about the death.
Taylor thanked the crowd for coming, for caring and for showing support.
“I grieve every minute,” he said. “If you have guns in the house, lock them up. We can’t let this happen. He should have been burying me, not me burying him.”
After lighting candles and sharing prayer, the group crossed East Colfax Avenue and walked to the home where Anthony died before releasing colorful balloons into the stormy sky in the boy’s memory.
