"We Got Teddy Bears Again"

Another horror in the 'hood.

From
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A26788-2003Dec1.html

washingtonpost.com > Metro  
 
Slaying Rekindles Anguish in Anacostia 
Neighborhood High School Loses Another Student to Gun Violence 

By Robin Shulman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, December 2, 2003; Page A01 

In the biting wind on a dead-end street in Anacostia, a woman paused
yesterday to take in a makeshift memorial. 

Two teddy bears hung on an iron fence in the 2400 block of Elvans Road
SE. There was a photo of a girl with a background of lipstick kisses.
A cardboard dedication was fastened to the fence with shoelaces: "I
love you Snoop. RIP. Your lil sis." 

"We got teddy bears again," said the passerby, Barbara Gaffley, tears
streaming down her face as she explained that stuffed animals had
memorialized her own 20-year-old daughter in almost the same spot. Her
daughter was stabbed to death in August, and that memorial is now
gone. 

This time the death was a 17-year-old, Charles Franklin, known as
Snoop, an Anacostia Senior High School student whose family said he
spent most of his time at home and stayed out of trouble. He was shot
Saturday night just outside his apartment building and died soon
after. 

"I want to know who and why," said his mother, Mitzi Franklin.
"There's a lot of teenage death from gun violence." 

Police said they have not located any witnesses to the killing and do
not know the motive. No gun was found on Franklin, and there is no
evidence that he was involved in gangs or drugs, police said. 

His death came a little more than a month after the killing of another
Anacostia Senior High student, 16-year-old Devin M. Fowlkes, a
bystander who was shot outside the school Oct. 30 by a youth firing at
a car that contained members of a rival gang, according to police. 

"We all should be livid about this and ask how could this happen in a
civilized society," Anacostia Principal James Wilson said at a
schoolyard news conference yesterday afternoon. Wilson said the school
community was still "in the process of healing" from Fowlkes's death. 

Grief counselors and extra security guards were at Anacostia to help
troubled students and prevent any outbreak of violence. 

Several students said violence in the neighborhood has become almost
routine. "You've got to worry about bullets when you come outside,"
said Tanisha Land, a 10th-grader. 

Charles Franklin's family said the Anacostia 12th-grader was like a
father to his five younger brothers and sisters. His mother said he
cooked, cleaned and helped the younger children with their homework. 

His 13-year-old sister, Ciara, said she would miss his cooking,
especially his eggs and sausage. Most of all, she said, she would miss
him "taking care of us." 

The family said they last saw him alive Saturday night when he left
the apartment to walk his girlfriend to the bus stop. Authorities said
he was shot in the torso about 10 p.m., just yards from the bus stop
and from the family's apartment building on Elvans Road. 

Washington had 264 homicides last year, and the most per capita of any
of the nation's largest cities. The 7th Police District, which
includes Anacostia, recorded 52 homicides, five more than in all of
San Diego. Homicides citywide are down slightly so far this year, but
robberies and sexual assaults are up, and many residents feel that
crime is getting worse. 

Neighbors and family members said Charles Franklin loved to play
basketball, although he did not play on the school team, and was crazy
about video games. 

"He was the type of person you'd want your son to follow," said Terry
Johnson, a family friend. "He did not get into the thug life. He
always showed his little sisters and brothers right guidance." 

His father, Charles Pugh, a maintenance mechanic at the D.C. Housing
Authority, said Franklin worked in the authority's rentals office last
summer. He said he had told his son that he would help him get a
permanent job at the authority when he finished high school. 

Pugh said he couldn't believe that his son was gone. He was still
carrying in his pocket two memory cards for video games his son loved
to play. 

"I just think he's going to walk through the door and say, 'Dad, let's
play this game, and I bet you I'll beat you!' " 

But Pugh's pocket also held press accounts of his son's killing. 

Staff writers Petula Dvorak and David A. Fahrenthold contributed to
this report.

  © 2003 The Washington Post Company