As we approach the end of NY Peace Week, we want to shine a light on four amazing parents who continue to live with the loss of their beloved children, those whose lives were cut short by violence.
Penny Wrencher, Taylonn Murphy, Sheena Tucker and Jennifer Freeman all shared personal stories with us about their late children and what made them so special.
We salute these parents for fighting through the pain of losing their children to make sure their names don’t become another statistic.
Read their words and pray for their families this Peace Week.
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Penny Wrencher lost her son Andre Saunders, a NYC MTA bus driver, in 2009. Andre was shot and killed in a triple shooting double homicide in Jamaica, Queens.
Tell us about the Andre, what was he like, what were his dreams?
Andre was 33 when it happened; he drove for the MTA Baisley Depot on Guy R. Brewer and Jamaica. He was married to a beautiful wife named Tamia.
He was a very loving, caring person and everyone who met him had nothing but good things to say, no one could ever say anything bad about him.
On the side, he was the co-owner for Hood Affair DVDs. Like I tell people and like he tried to tell people, not to take the name out of context. He tried to give the kids in the neighborhood a chance to express themselves through rap music and singing, instead of going out and converting to violence and everything else on the street. He tried to help them get some shine and maybe get promotions.
Andre is my only son. I have a daughter also and Andre was very loving and giving. He was a son, a best friend; he’s everything to me.
Everyone who came in contact with Andre was always pleased, from his passengers on the bus; they all loved him, to everybody at our church. He knew God and he knows God and Andre was very family oriented. He was close with my mother who passed away two weeks after Andre.
January is very tough and it’s a struggle and sometimes I can talk and sometimes I can’t.
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Taylonn Murphy lost her daughter Tayshana “Chicken” Murphy, a promising high school basketball star, when she was shot and killed in her Harlem, NY neighborhood.
What kind of person was Tayshana, did she have any other aspirations besides basketball?
She was a poet. She reached out to all ends, her peers, her youth and even babies, Tayshana would babysit anybody. Anyone would leave Tayshana with their child ….she was full of spirit and full of life. The glass was always half full with her.
I don’t like to get into sports but I will touch upon this. When she had her ACL injury which ended her whole season, she was an inspiration to her team that she was playing with at that time.
She always pushed and preserved over many things. A lot of people don’t know she was a star athlete; she was ranked 16 in the nation. She left it all out there on the court.
Half the time we would go to games and we would come back home and she had chronic asthma and we would end up in the hospital for 3 days after a game and all she could think of was the team.
She was a team player. She tutored younger kids and it’s a tragedy that you lose any child’s life, but especially one that had a bright future and just wanted to actually help people.
How are you remembering Tayshana?
We are starting the Tayshana “Chicken” Murphy Foundation, we’re taking a page out of her book and giving back to many of the at risk youths in our community.
One thing I remember prior to her death; she told me ‘Dad I’m going to make you proud’ and even in her demise she has made me proud and she even told me ‘Dad we are going to change the world’ and I used to look at her and say what are you talking about?
Maybe she felt something that I didn’t feel at the time, but we are going to start this to deal with the at risk teens and preteens. This is how we going to keep her legacy alive.
Sometimes I am still waiting on that call from her to say, ‘Dad pick me up from the gym.’ Her last game she wasn’t cleared to play but she did. She scored 35 points 5 rebounds and 7 assists just a marvel. It was like poetry in motion.
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Sheena Tucker lost her 17-year-old son Keith Murrell when her then boyfriend killed the High School senior in their Queens, NY apartment.
Tell us about Keith. What kind of kid was he, what were his aspirations?
Keith was very motivated, he was about to graduate and he was a happy kid. It’s nothing more I can say about him. He wasn’t disrespectful.
He came home from a program because he was acting up for a while, but when he came back he started changing for the better and I noticed.
When we had the meeting in school and he found out how many credits he had to finish he was happy. I told him ‘You thought you weren’t doing good but you were doing great’ and then this tragedy happens.
Dating back to the drug era in Jamaica, Queens would you say it is still the same?
I moved here in 1999 and I came from Bed Stuy, Brooklyn and when I came out here it was like heaven and I was comfortable and I still am. But since this tragedy I have to move because my kids are not comfortable anymore.
Why did you call him Buju?
His father is from Jamaica and as a baby it stuck with him.
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Jennifer Freeman lost her son 20-year-old son Dane at a Springfield Gardens, Queens barbeque in the summer of 2010. Dane was shot in the head and pronounced dead at the scene.
What kind of kid was Dane?
Dane was a very active kid, he loves bikes, he loves to play basketball. And he was always talking about going to the NBA and all, but he actually wanted to become a medical assistant. He had started school training to be medical assistant. It was always on his mind to become a good member of society. His life was just cut short.
What do you remember about that day?
I only remember the last time when I spoke to him. I saw him the night before, and we talked and I was on my way out to attend my friends 60th birthday party. And he came in the room and saw me getting dressed and he said…
‘Oh mom, where you going?’ And I told him, ‘I’m going to the same place you guys go to on a Saturday night.’ He laughed.
I asked him “So, where you going?” And he said, “Oh, I’m going to a barbeque.” And I said, “Okay, just be careful.” He kissed me, and said, “I love you mommy. “And I said, “I love you Dane.”
He turned around and saw his dad and asked “Oh pops you going with mom?” And he said “Yeah.”
The last thing I told him was “Okay Dane just be careful.” And that was it, we never saw him again.
Since it happened, how’ve you been coping? Even though it’s been over a year, how you’ve been getting along?
It’s been real hard. You know, every day we see his picture, his smiling face, and it brings back memories and it’s just that feeling to know that he is not around to actually do what he wanted to do.
And all of the things I would have loved to see a young man growing up and become. And it’s very heartbreaking knowing that he’s not around, and it’s very hard. And it’s tough when we have to lay flowers for Christmas and his birthday.
We pride ourselves on telling the stories that need to be told. Shootings that occur like with Dane we think people should know about it.
Yes, because there’s so many people that’s hurting. When one family hurts, another family hurts. And the change that goes on in our lives, it’s very sad, because our lives have not been the same.
I had three kids. Now I’m down to one. Our lives have been changed drastically, so drastically. Our lives are not the same again. The impact it left on us is unspeakable.
We have a god that we believe in, that is why we are able to cope with the situation. But it’s not a nice situation to be in. And people need to stop being selfish and think about how it hurts. And knowing that we are not the same, we are all not the same.
It’s just a sad feeling and someone said with time it heals. But when is time going to heal? When is time? When is enough time? There’s not enough time to heal.
There’s never enough time Mrs. Freeman. I want to thank you again for taking time to talk with us about Dane.
Thank you.
