Murdered teens remembered on 2nd anniversary of their deaths
Posted August 22, 2015 9:19 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
It was a day of remembrance, full of tears, grief but also, for some, hope.
Fifteen-year-old Kwame Duodu and 16-year-old O’She Doyles-Whyte were shot to death Aug. 23, 2013, at a Toronto Community Housing complex near Jane Street and Finch Avenue West.
At nearby Oakdale Park, almost two years after their deaths, the two friends were celebrated with a basketball tournament and the awarding of two scholarships for local youth.
The OK Tournament and Scholarships take their name from each boy’s first initial: “O” for O’She and “K” for Kwame.
On Saturday, young community members Malique Reid and Patreka Brown each received a $500 toward post-secondary education.
“We will help them to do what [Kwame] didn’t do,” said Kwame’s mother, Comfort Mireku.
Police still do not know who killed Kwame and O’She. And the number of fatal shootings in the city has grown since their murders.
Compared to this time last year, there has been a 56 per cent increase in the number deaths and injuries caused by gun violence in Toronto.
Community organizer Reverend Sky Starr said she’s disturbed by the spike in shootings.
More shootings means more families devastated by loss. For the family and friends who gathered at Oakdale Park Saturday, that sense of loss has been channeled into helping others. But it is still poignant.
“Time is passing very quickly,” said O’She’s mother, Stephanie Whyte. “But not without us remembering them every day.”
