A 19-year-old man was shot to death on Monday in Oakland, Calif., only months after speaking out against gun violence.
In January, Roderick “Treyvon” Godfrey gave an emotional speech at a town hall meeting in Oakland about the impact of gun violence in his community.
He shared that he had lost five friends in gun-related incidents. On Monday, the teenager became another fatality of gun violence when he was killed in a double homicide, the East Bay Times reported.
“It shouldn’t even be like that,” he said at the January meeting. “Especially when our kind can’t grow up to see the age of 21. We can’t even see what it feels like to be grown.”
As Godfrey recalled the loss of his friends, he became overcome with emotion and unable to finish his plea for gun law reform.
Rep. Barbara Lee, who hosted the forum, paid tribute to Godfrey in a Facebook post.
“Treyvon lost his life to the senseless violence he was working to prevent,” she wrote. “It’s a disgrace that Congress has done nothing on common sense gun reform. My thoughts and prayers are with the family of Treyvon during this difficult time.”
City Council President Lynette Gibson McElhaney, who attended the town hall meeting, said her “heart is broken” after learning of the news.
“There’s a lot of grief,” McElhaney told the Easy Bay Times. “My message to all our young men is we want you to be alive and we want you to be free.”