ROCHESTER N.Y. (WROC) – Today marks one year since the shooting of an innocent 3-year-old. What could have been the story of another tragic loss in our community instead is the story of perseverance.
On that tragic day this time last year, 3-year-old Marlo Joseph was sitting in his car seat at a grocery store when two people began shooting and young Marlo was caught in the crossfire. Today the community celebrates his full recovery.
Untrapped Ministries teamed up with the Gun Violence Prevention Hub to not just celebrate Marlo’s recovery but also continue to push for things like this to never happen again.
Dr. Derek Wakeman, one of the surgeons who helped care for Marlo says he was disgusted to find out another child became a victim to gun violence. “2021, 2022 were two particularly bad years for gun violence in this community and we definitely saw an increased number of children who got shot. I’d say in the 5 years before that, that I’ve been here, there’s probably one child a year that we were taking care of that got shot and in 2021-2022 it was one or two a month,” says Wakeman.
Dr. Wakeman says considering the child’s life threatening injuries it’s a miracle to see Marlo doing so well.
“For a while there I think we weren’t sure if he was going to be able to see but he can clearly see, he’s running around like nothing ever happened,” he says.
Rochester Mayor Malik Evans stopped by the event and wanted the family to know the community has the city’s support. “We will continue to stand with you for all the rest of your years because what you went through was so horrific and no family should have to experience that ever again. The city of Rochester and the rest of these neighbors will forever have the back of that family because of what they had to deal with,” says Mayor Evans.
During the event Mayor Evans declared that moving forward today September 28 will be recognized as Marlo Day.
35 year old Travis Lewis and 17 year old Justin Rhynes involved in the shooting both plead guilty to charges of assault, criminal possession of a weapon, and criminal possession of a controlled substance.
Prosecutors say Rhynes will be sentenced to five years and Lewis is expected to spend 27 years plus five post release supervision.
ROCHESTER N.Y. (WROC) – Today marks one year since the shooting of an innocent 3-year-old. What could have been the story of another tragic loss in our community instead is the story of perseverance.
On that tragic day this time last year, 3-year-old Marlo Joseph was sitting in his car seat at a grocery store when two people began shooting and young Marlo was caught in the crossfire. Today the community celebrates his full recovery.
Untrapped Ministries teamed up with the Gun Violence Prevention Hub to not just celebrate Marlo’s recovery but also continue to push for things like this to never happen again.
Dr. Derek Wakeman, one of the surgeons who helped care for Marlo says he was disgusted to find out another child became a victim to gun violence. “2021, 2022 were two particularly bad years for gun violence in this community and we definitely saw an increased number of children who got shot. I’d say in the 5 years before that, that I’ve been here, there’s probably one child a year that we were taking care of that got shot and in 2021-2022 it was one or two a month,” says Wakeman.
Dr. Wakeman says considering the child’s life threatening injuries it’s a miracle to see Marlo doing so well.
“For a while there I think we weren’t sure if he was going to be able to see but he can clearly see, he’s running around like nothing ever happened,” he says.
Rochester Mayor Malik Evans stopped by the event and wanted the family to know the community has the city’s support. “We will continue to stand with you for all the rest of your years because what you went through was so horrific and no family should have to experience that ever again. The city of Rochester and the rest of these neighbors will forever have the back of that family because of what they had to deal with,” says Mayor Evans.
During the event Mayor Evans declared that moving forward today September 28 will be recognized as Marlo Day.
35 year old Travis Lewis and 17 year old Justin Rhynes involved in the shooting both plead guilty to charges of assault, criminal possession of a weapon, and criminal possession of a controlled substance.
Prosecutors say Rhynes will be sentenced to five years and Lewis is expected to spend 27 years plus five post release supervision. RochesterRochesterFirst
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