MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Orange Mound held a balloon release for a 17-year-old who was shot and killed during last weekend’s mass shooting.
Antonio Humphrey was just 17 years old when he and one other person were killed while seven others were injured at the block party.
As of press time, the Memphis Police Department said there are no people in custody.
"Heal 901" founder K. Durell Cowan said incidents like these won’t stop until people are held accountable for their actions and more parental figures are involved in the community.
"It's not a question if they should be held accountable,” Cowan said. “It is a must those individuals have to be held accountable for the crimes that they commit and the individuals that are consistently having to deal with this."
Cowan is a member of the Public Safety Committee for Shelby County. He’s also worked with the Shelby County Health Department on how the City of Memphis approaches gun violence.
“Through the data analysis of amount organization that was computed by Mastercard ... 47% of crime went down in one of the most violent apartment complexes when we there,” Cowan said. “What that means is it's just like school — when your teacher is in the room, everybody’s behaving, but the moment that there is a substitute, everyone runs wild.”
He said the proven solution to gun violence in the Bluff City is increasing the number of parental figures and role models in overlooked communities.
“When you have a pandemic and epidemic as we're seeing in our city, it's going to resources to ensure that we have enough boots on the ground to be able to deal with this issue.”
Orange Mound is still healing from last week’s mass shooting.
As the neighborhood works to improve public safety and be there for each other, the neighborhood and MPD is asking for anyone with information on suspects in the mass shooting to come forward.
You can contact crime stoppers at 901-528-CASH.