This time of the year is rough for me, as the 2nd anniversary of my older cousin’s death is coming up. Unfortunately, on October 28, 2019, I lost a very important role model of mine growing up to gun violence. October 28th is my cousin’s birthday and died the day of his birthday. As I look back on his death, it comes to show that I’ve grown a lot as a person and learned a lot of lifelong lessons the day he died.
On this day, I drove by my cousin’s house to wish him a happy birthday and told him about the big plans me and my friend group had for the day. We all waited for him to get dressed and we all left out to begin the fun night ahead of us. I will never forget his mom’s words before we left, “Please be safe tonight and watch yourselves out there”. After we did everything, we had planned for him, on the way home we stopped to get gas. My cousin was no angle child, his life was corrupted with gang lifestyles, section 8 living, and gun violence. At this time, it was currently 2:30am and stopped at a local QT. My cousin hops out of the car to go inside to pay for gas when suddenly, my life changed in a matter of minutes. There were group guys that my cousin had problems with from an incident that happened months, words were said, tensions flared, and a fight almost broke out. Me and my friends run out of the car and grab my cousin and tell him lets go and get gas somewhere else. We drove off and proceeded to look for other gas stations. We stopped at a red light and our music was blaring loud, laughter and smiles were shown, and we were all having a great time. At this moment, my life flashed before my eyes as the guys that approached my cousin at the gas station pulled alongside us and opened fire in our vehicle. My cousin was shot 9 times, my friend Montrell was shot twice, and a bullet grazed me in the back. I sat at the red light watching my cousin bleed to death in my arms and my life changed juristically after that. Rest in peace Rara and I love you so much and miss you.
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