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Families of victims gather to reminisce
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From left, Ty’sean Floyd, 7, Linda, Mary and Malcolm Floyd, J’Alfred, 9, and Aija Clarett, 8, sit around a tribute to the late Quinton Floyd, who was shot and killed Dec. 24, 2006. Floyd’s relatives were among about 75 people who attended a picnic in Youngstown’s Wick Park put on by the group ENOUGH, headed by Nancy Stanford, whose son was shot and killed in 2009.
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From left, Chris Vancobb, 8, Keondre Lewis, 8, and J’Alfred Clarett, 9, toss a football around at the ENOUGH picnic, an event that brought together families of victims of violent crime.
By Karl Henkel
YOUNGSTOWN
Quinton Floyd was quite the up-and-comer.
A four-year letter winner and track star at The Rayen School, the self-starter had aspirations of opening his own barbershop. After all, he cut his teammates’ hair, he cut his friends’ hair. Heck, he even cut his own hair.
But it all quickly ended for the 23-year-old business-management student at Clarion College in Pennsylvania.
Home for winter break, he was hanging out with some friends in Youngstown when they pitched the idea of going to a house party.
“He didn’t ever like house parties,” said his mother, 51-year-old Linda Floyd.
That night — as it crossed into morning of Dec. 24, 2006 — was no different. Quinton Floyd wasn’t about to go to the house party.
So Floyd stayed back at his friend’s house at 426 Sherwood Ave.
Early Christmas Eve morning, he and Devonte Kelly, 14, were shot and killed.
The loss — more than 41/2 years later — still resonates with his mother, great-aunt, Mary, and brother Malcolm, who, along with about 75 other Youngstown residents, gathered together Sunday for a day of reminiscing at Wick Park. It was a chance for those who had lost loved ones to violent crimes — many of which date back many years and still are unsolved — to share stories and provide comfort with the many residents inflicted with the pain of suddenly losing a brother, sister, mother or father.
“It gives people a lot of comfort knowing that we keep the memories alive,” Mary Floyd said. “We may never get answers, but this helps us with the pain.”
The event was organized by Nancy Stanford, whose son Keith, 39, was killed in September 2009. Like many, his killer has not been found. The group is called ENOUGH, as in, “we’ve had enough,” Stanford said.
“Everybody here has gone through a tough time,” she said Sunday. “We’re all family.”
And like a family, everyone who attended the sunny afternoon remembrance share similar sentiments despite a variety of situations — that police and investigators haven’t done due diligence when it comes to solving crimes, and that by not doing so, violent crimes continue to run rampant to this day.
Lillian Peoples, 41, of Youngstown had two sisters killed one block apart — within six months in the mid-1990s. April Peoples, 22, and Frances Peoples, 46, were both gunned down, and neither case has been solved.
“I know my sisters are at peace,” Lillian Peoples said. “The most difficult part is their killers are still out there and could be killing other people.”
Same goes for Geneva Riley and Marianne Muldrow, who lost their nephew, Albert Byrd, who would have been 37 this year, on Christmas Day of 2007.
Police said Byrd was abducted; Riley said he officially was reported missing shortly after the New Year.
“They told us if he found his body it would be a miracle,” Muldrow said.
She’s still holding out hope for that miracle as are many other Youngstown residents who hope that cold cases will suddenly reopen, that justice will be served, that closure will be had.
“We’ve had enough of this killing,” Stanford said. “There are murders out there that have not been solved, and we don’t want them to be forgotten.”