Community gathers to start remembrance for Andrew

About 100 people lined Martin Luther King. Jr. Boulevard between Cuba and Ford streets Sunday and let it be known they would not forget Andrew Faust Jr. and what the 5-year-old's slaying Monday means to Dunbar and all of Lee County.

The rally in front of the Quality Life Center was a tribute to the active little boy who was shot and killed while he played in his home about a block away Oct. 13. It was planned by the grass-roots group Not in My Neighborhood, which includes residents from Dunbar and other areas of the county.

Yvetta Dominque, a Fort Myers police officer whose community policing assignment is in Dunbar and is one of the NIMN organizers, said it is important to get the community involved.

"The violence has to stop," she said. "We have to keep the community aware. The challenge is I know a lot of people are working, but you have to take time for the community. If you don't get involved you get complacent. We can't stop, we have to keep going."

Andrew was killed when one bullet from a spray of gunshots near his home on Cuba pierced a wall and hit him. He died shortly after as his mother tried to perform CPR and get him to a hospital.

Those waving signs and their hands along both sides of the boulevard represented a good cross-section of the community: black, white, Hispanic, male, female, young and old. Most said they were there to ensure that more of this kind of violence isn't perpetuated.

"We have to hold each other accountable," said Niki Stephens-Lynch, a local radio personality who lives near the scene of Andrew's death and is also a NIMN organizer. "Even if the support starts off strong and gets weaker we can't stop."

Stephens-Lynch said people have to realize it is OK to be scared. "We should be afraid of all the gunshots, we should be afraid of all these things. But we don't want to be barred up in our houses," she said.

Rashida Shakoor, a retired local teacher who taught Andrew's mother, said it was necessary for people to come out.

"We need to be here. We need change," she said. "There's a lot more that needs to be done."

Abdul'Haq Muhammed, executive director at the Quality Life Center, said little sparks like the rally are what is needed to make a bigger fire.

"Everyone doesn't want to get involved, but the solution starts with them," he said. "It can't be done without challenging the government about reallocating resources."

Angela McClary, a former Dunbar resident now living in Lehigh Acres, said she is a newcomer to the violence. Her son, Deonte Redding, 33, and his 22-year-old half-brother, Zachary Blue, were found dead inside a car parked on South Drive the morning of June 7.

"My morals and his morals were different," she said, adding that she did all she could do to get him to change his ways but was not successful.

"I lived by example. I am not embarrassed by my son's life," she said.

McClary said she hopes the eyes of the community were further opened by Andrew's death.

"I'm here today to make sure they continue," she said of the rally. "Someone has to break the code of silence."

"I'm speechless," said Toyetta Simpson, Andrew's mom, as she surveyed the scene. "I can't even put a word to it."

Simpson said the community needs to stop protecting criminals.

"We don't need more of this," she said, adding "They (those who shot Andrew) feel my pain and their guilt will turn them in, or their families."

She said the most difficult part of her son's death comes when she is alone. "When the overwhelming feeling comes is when I am alone, and I think 'Have I done enough?' Out here I feel protected and loved. It only hits me when I go home, and I am alone."

Jerand Kemp, Andrew's uncle, added that the little boy's family wanted the community to not forget him or his sacrifice.

"We can't do this just when someone gets killed," he said. "We have to do this all the time. I'm not out here just for my nephew. If other people see me maybe others will come out."

Stephens-Lynch ended the hour-plus-long rally with all those participating gathered in front of the Q responding to her cry of "Not in My" with a loud "Neighborhood!"

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