In a sobering twist of fate, Deaza Barkley, a 17-year-old student at the center of a vigil in Queens, was the very victim of the issue she sought to counteract in a recent school project on gun violence. The high school cheerleader was fatally shot last weekend, as ABC7 New York reported. Mourners congregated outside the Cypress Hills Library on Monday to commemorate her life, with attendees including family, friends, and community leaders, recalling her as a bright figure gone too soon.
Tragedy struck on a seemingly regular weekend in Jamaica, Queens, as Barkley was shot in the head at a friend's abode, losing her life in an apparently accidental discharge by a 16-year-old boy, who according to News12 Bronx, is now facing charges related to criminal possession of a weapon, though charges for manslaughter or murder have yet to be announced. At the vigil, affectionately dubbed "Long live De-De" by participants during a balloon release, her legacy and dreams, which fleetingly included aspirations for the Air Force or college, were at the forefront of a grief-stricken community's heart and mind.
Speaker after speaker addrressed the crowd, each echoeing the sentiment of Barkley's mother, Krystal, who said, "This didn't need to happen and my baby didn't deserve it," emphasizing the needless loss of her daughter, who even faced the very problem she hoped to resolve through education and activism, committed to creating "a sustainable future," as cited by her bereft mother in an ABC7 New York interview.
Compounding the family’s sorrow are ongoing investigations into the origin of the firearm, discovered with a defaced serial number thereby complicating matters for detectives, set against the city's backdrop of heightened gun arrests, which NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said were up over 81% in the past three years, and the Adams administration's claim of over 20,000 guns seized from the streets, according to ABC7 New York. Krystal Barkley's own reflection captured the poignant irony as she told News12 Bronx, "The best way I can just describe her is, think of a perfect snowy day, and your favorite hot chocolate," capturing the warmth Deaza brought to the lives around her now hollow in her absence.
