Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 2, 1993 TAG: 9302020282
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RON BROWN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
MINISTER SAYS PARK SHOOTING TOO COMMON FOR COMFORT
A SHOOTING MONDAY at the gym in Roanoke's Eureka Park tells the Rev. Joseph Mayo that the fight against guns, drugs and despair is far from over in his neighborhood.\ The Rev. Joseph J. Mayo displayed the rusty bullet hole in his car like a medal from the battle he's waging.
Monday, just moments after a young man was shot at the Eureka Park gym, he reflected on the problems he sees in his neighborhood.
"The guns are plentiful. The drugs are plentiful," said Mayo, whose parked car was shot about a year ago. "With a lack of involvement and job opportunities, there is little else for these kids to do but get into trouble."
Police said a 21-year-old man was shot in the left side while he sat in the gym playing cards. William Kent Smith Jr., 24, of the 900 block of Fairfax Avenue Northwest, was charged with malicious wounding.
Mayo's response to the violence in his neighborhood has been to start the New Life Outreach Center, which tries to help inner-city youngsters succeed in life.
He hopes the city and private donors will provide money to keep up the work.
Mayo said the center offers academic counseling and tutoring, AIDS awareness seminars and job counseling to help at-risk youth.
The center also has been trying to encourage youngsters to stop the shooting.
"My family sits at home at night and guns are going off like `Gunsmoke,' " he said. "You're dealing with kids with all kinds of emotional problems and mental problems. It's high-risk youth - bottom line."
Mayo, an ordained minister for the Church of God in Christ, has been combatting the problems since 1985. He's seen ambulances, police cars and bloodshed before.
"When I heard about the shooting, I just thought other cases like this have happened in the past," he said. "Several young men have been hit in that park by gunfire."
Police said the 21-year-old, whose name was not released, was sitting on the bottom row of the gym bleachers when a relative of Smith's walked up and punched him in the head. The man was then shot with a high-caliber pistol.
Iyana Welcher, 14, was walking into the gym when she heard the gunfire.
"It was a single little shot," she said. "I heard everybody screaming and ran out the door."
When she started to walk back in, the gunman bumped into her. She saw the gun tucked into his jeans.
Smith was arrested at his residence.
Police Lt. Ron Carlisle said police have learned that some young people and guns now go hand in hand.
"With the gun situation with [young adults] the guns are naturally going to be where they are," he said.
Mayo, standing near the year-old bullet hole in his car, said he hopes it's a situation the police can handle with help from the community and people like him.