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ALBANY – Some days Yolander Brown eats a slice of carrot cake just because it was her son, Nigel’s, favorite.

Her family walks through their house and talks to Nigel, asking him how he’s doing and wishing him a good day. In their house, there’s a room with his cardboard cutout, the blanket he used to have on his bed, and other bits and pieces of his life.

But, there’s no Nigel.

The 9-year-old was killed Aug. 8, 2021, while sleeping in his bed after a person in a car drove by his home and opened fire with a gun. Almost three years later, the family hasn’t received justice.

“I still want to live life … but my life is on hold because I’m not getting the answers that I need,” Brown said. “As a mother, I can’t remove myself from the situation. I can’t go forth.”

This week was the Wear Orange campaign’s National Gun Violence Awareness Week. Wear Orange is a national movement to honor victims of gun violence and spotlight gun safety. Brown’s nonprofit to support gun violence victims and their families, Team NIGEL, co-sponsored the week locally.

Gun violence is a national issue. In 2021, 48,830 Americans died from firearms, according to the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions. There were 20 gun deaths in Dougherty County in 2023, according to Dougherty County Coroner Michael Fowler. There have been seven gun deaths, and one pending, in 2024 so far. The most recent took place on Memorial Day when 40-year-old Charles Shaver Jr. was shot. A 17-year-old has been charged with murder.

Brown said Nigel was a sweet little boy who captured the heart of everyone he met. He loved puzzles, Batman, his siblings and God. Brown said she now wonders if she’s safe everywhere she goes – she never expected her son to be killed in their own home. She’s asking anyone to come forward with answers about his murder.

The Scale of Albany and Dougherty County’s gun problem

Albany Police Chief Michael Persley said the Albany Police Department responds to firearm-related crime on a daily basis.

“It’s all over the place,” the chief said. “It’s not consolidated to one neighborhood or one side of town.”

He said there are more guns on the street than ever before. APD doesn’t know just how many.

Persley said APD must adapt to changing gun laws. In 2022, Georgia made it legal for residents to purchase a gun without a permit. A significant change in 2024 involves concealed carry permits. Georgia now issues Weapons Carry Licenses for any resident who wants to carry a firearm in a public space.

“Now, it’s like everyone has a firearm, and you can’t know who is a law-abiding citizen who’s allowed to have that firearm or who’s a criminal,” Persley said.

The police chief said he respects the 2nd Amendment right to bear arms and protect one’s self. He said he understands that not everyone who carries a gun is a criminal.

In fact, APD holds training sessions on how to properly operate, clean and store firearms.

The APD sees an influx of crimes happening with weapons stolen from cars. Persley stressed the importance of not storing weapons in vehicles. He said gun violence also looks like accidents that can occur when children accidentally access weapons or people mishandle them.

“If you have a firearm, you have a duty and obligation to be responsible with that weapon,” Persley said. “It is not a toy. It’s an instrument that could be used in a deadly manner.”

However, gun violence can happen even with legal weapons.

Domestic disputes make up the bulk of Dougherty County’s gun violence cases. Persley said often there is prior history between people involved in violent gun interactions. One of the most jarring statistics of Albany’s gun violence is that it mostly involves young people. Persley said APD sees youths as young as 12 to 15 in possession of guns.

“Albany is dealing with what a lot of communities are dealing with across the country – a generation of people that dying doesn’t mean anything … or seeing someone die doesn’t,” Persley said. “That’s a problem. As a community, how do we change that mindset?”

Fowler said the majority of these homicides are black-on-black crime.

“I’m concerned about why we are killing each other,” Fowler, who is black, said. “We’re not saying enough when a black person kills another black person. It’s another life destroyed … it’s another black life taken too soon.”

Fowler and Persley urge people to speak out when they see or hear instances of gun violence or illegal gun activity.

APD began using Flock gunshot detection devices in 2023. The devices, placed in three locations across Albany, allow the department to better respond to gunshots, putting them within 90 feet of where the shots were detected.

However, the devices also revealed a lack of reporting from the community. The chief said there are more gunshots being fired than there are reported.

Persley said his department needs people to come forward, especially to aid in finding justice for families like Nigel’s.

Fowler said many people don’t say anything because they’re afraid to get involved.

“This could be your child or your parents,” he said. “We need to sound an alarm. Everybody needs to be saying something because it affects all of us.”

A community that’s hurting

Cathy Jones and her family have battled mental health issues – guilt, depression and anxiety — after her son’s murder on July 11, 2017. Anthony Wright was shot and killed at 21-years-old after a Facebook interaction resulted in him defending his sister from a violent attack.

Jones called her son’s murder senseless. She said he was intelligent and creative. He participated in the 4REAL Program through World Vision and went to Capitol Hill to speak on a bill regarding bullying. He was voted “most likely to succeed” by his high school classmates at Catapult Academy of Albany. He was just about to follow in his father’s footsteps by enlisting in the U.S. Army.

“Anthony had been a rare phenomenon in our family from the moment he was born,” Jones said. “He started walking when he was 8 months old, and he didn’t stop walking until he was shot.”

Wright was also a talented rapper under the name “Ajayy-Sensei,” which Jones has tattooed on the inside of her forearm. Before he performed – before he did anything – he would visit his mom and ask her to place her hand on his shoulder and pray for him.

“He was my right-hand guy,” Jones said. “I miss him so much. My baby should be here in his seventh year in the military.”

Jones fought for four years until her son received justice in 2021. She said it was constant heartbreak waking up each day.

In 2023, she found that the impact had gone beyond just mental. She was diagnosed with congestive heart failure from the stress and pressure of what had happened to her son. She had to close offices of her company she’d built during COVID-19, “Boxed with Love,” through which she volunteered to pack the homes and belongings of people who had died.

Seven years later, Jones is focused on healing and calling on her community to get involved in advocacy against violence, even if they haven’t been directly impacted by it.

“People say, ‘Get out of Albany’ for what?” she said. “Do something in Albany. Do something to help change what is happening.”

A community seeking solutions

Persley said gun violence must be treated as a public health crisis. The APD is working with Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital, the Georgia Department of Community Health and Grady Hospital in Atlanta on how to do this.

He said they’re combining information and data to find community partners to help provide resources in areas with the highest concentration of gun-related crimes down to the lowest.

Nonprofit SOWEGA Rising also is shifting its focus to engage youths. This summer, the group is holding a youth-intensive program to give young Albanians a chance to speak with local leaders in a town hall setting.

“Our youth are a forgotten voice in our community,” the agency’s Sherrell Byrd said. “The most important thing we can do is empower them and help them understand what issues we’re fighting for.”

Joshua Anthony, a 21-year-old Albany native, called on the city or county to look into creating a permanent youth council, involving high school and college students. He said young people just want the opportunity to speak.

Anthony, who made an unsuccessful bit last month for the state House, said opportunities and activities for young people are little to none in Dougherty County.

“Young people just want stuff to do here,” Anthony said. “We have the resources … a river, the second-largest aquifer in the U.S. We can bring in things like paintball … schools can have more field trips … or something that would allow students to try something new.”

Bishop Jerry Cochran’s church in south Albany – where much of the county’s gun violence occurs – has extended a hand to young people in the community. Cochran said the church has reached out to gang members to try to steer them in another direction. Cochran also hosted after-school tutorial and GED programs in partnership with Albany Technical College.

“We were trying to create a situation where they could come and learn and be motivated to do something different with their lives,” he said.

Cochran said one young man who entered the program went on to become a pharmacist. Another young girl took the lessons she learned and went on to become a lawyer and start her own nonprofit for unhoused people.

Cochran grew up in the community he ministers in. He said the problems it faces now – poverty, crime, drugs – existed when he was growing up, as well.

He said there’s few black-owned businesses or professionals on the south side for young people to look up to. He said it’s common for children in his area to grow up in broken homes and seek security within gangs. He’s trying to provide a secure space within his church.

Cochran said the city and state need to invest in low-income community organizations that support the young people of the community.

“There has to be a real concern for … impoverished communities,” he said. “We know that there are disparities, inequalities, but what are we willing to do to bridge the gap and bring change?”

Nigel’s mother said she’d like to see more community events to help bring families impacted by gun violence together to heal. She said her birthday and Mother’s Day are some of the hardest days for her since her son’s death. Nigel was the first to make her a card and always got the family on board to celebrate her.

Brown said hosting something as simple as community Mother’s Day or Father’s Day brunches would have an impact.

“Something to allow them to come together and know … your child still loves you,” she said. “We want to honor them on these days as if they were still here.”

Nigel would have been 12 this year. Wright would have been 28 this month.

Brown said she plans to celebrate Nigel’s birthday with other community children – give them a day to just be kids. She said Nigel will always be a kid.

Jones and her daughters plan to go to Disney World in the next few months to celebrate Wright’s birthday. They were supposed to take a trip before he enlisted.

“To have a phenomenon snatched out your life because an ignorant person chose violence, it’s not fair,” she said. “I’m not going to be quiet. I’m for justice.”