On Saturday morning (Jan. 28, 2017) I was called for a homicide on East 29th Street. The homicide had occurred around 5 o’clock in the morning. There was no family out there and I was told we had just had another homicide -- there was a shooting Friday night and the victim had just passed. I went home and a little while later I got a call from the police sergeant saying they really needed me to get to the hospital, asap, as quickly as I could.

When I got to the hospital I found the family of Warren Jackson. They were having a really rough time finding out that he had passed. I spoke with the father, aunt and sister. I knew the aunt. She works at a store that I constantly shop at. But she had lost another nephew to homicide and I was at that scene also. Warren’s mother died years ago, but his father’s second wife just passed in October or so.

They were really in a bad situation. The father was crying. The sister was in shock. What I do is, I pray with them. We joined hands and hugged and I prayed for God to give them strength. That helped them to calm down, knowing that God was in control. Murder isn’t an act of God, but God is in control. I asked the father where he lived. He gave me his address and I told them I would come by when they left the hospital. There wasn’t anything else they could do at the hospital.

I got to the house and other family members were coming by. There were a lot of emotions because this was a good child. Never been in trouble. The father was really, really upset, crying. I was giving them Kleenex, just letting them know I’m here. Letting them know I’ve been in this same place before.

Warren was 23. He graduated from a charter school called Hope Academy. They called him “Little Daddy.” He detailed cars. He just wanted to hang out with his cousins that evening. He’d gotten paid, he’d worked hard all week and he wanted to hang out. He was the youngest son and he had 13 older siblings.

I’ve been with the family every day this week. Monday evening I called the father. He was in pretty bad shape so I went over. We just sat and talked. I told him I understood, because I lost my own son to homicide. We talked a lot about religion, how we have to hold on to God and ask God for strength. We talked about things we did in the past and how we became better parents to our children. I think I sat there for an hour and talked to him.

The other night Warren’s auntie came by my house. I was talking to her on the phone and she said she was tired of chicken, you know, people always bring chicken by the house. I said, “you know, I normally don’t cook, but today I cooked some beans”. She said, “I love beans.” So Warren’s auntie came by my house that evening and we sat down and talked for a while longer. She took some beans with her and some for Warren’s father. And the next thing I know I was called for another homicide.