Suffolk community members and leaders gathered Monday evening to pay tribute to more lives lost and damaged by gun violence.
SUFF.Impact, a faith-based nonprofit organization dedicated to preventing community-based violence, held a special prayer vigil to help heal the community following the Thursday, Sept. 12 five-person shooting that occurred on the 800 block of E. Washington St., taking the lives of 37-year-old William Eugene Goodman Jr. and 30-year-old Demonte Lamont Tillery. Two adult males and one adult female are currently at the hospital with serious, but non-life-threatening injuries.
Along with remarks from dignitaries, including Mayor Michael Duman, Chief of Police James “Danny” Buie and Del. Nadarius Clark, Goodman’s brother and father, SUFF.Impact Chaplin Justin Goodman and William Goodman Sr., both gave remarks during the vigil. Goodman thanked supporters while expressing that it’s a difficult time for their family, noting he was gearing up for a wedding for his other brother and his fiance.