Shooting of Shayma Roman (17) highlights rise of gun violence against young people in New York

The laughter of sisters once filled the bedroom as they jumped and danced to 1990s R&B. Shayma and Tayma Roman were known around the neighbourhood as twins even though they were about two years apart; one was rarely spotted without the other close by.

Their room sat silent in early October.

Shayma, a 17-year-old cheerleader, basketball player and fashion lover, had been in front of her grandmother’s apartment in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, with her sister Tayma (19), when gunmen opened fire on September 28th, hitting her in the torso. Shayma, who relatives said was held in Tayma’s arms as she bled, died at Brookdale Hospital.

Tayma didn’t come to a memorial service days later on a misty October night. It was too difficult for her to return home, family said. Instead, she was mourning blocks away, surrounded by friends.

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“They shared a room all of their life,” said Shakim-Unique Correnthi, their older brother. “They were together 24/7.”

The shooting of Shayma, who was a bystander, was part of an increasing number of attacks on and by children this year, even as gun violence as a whole decreased.

This year, about one in every 10 New Yorkers struck by a bullet was a child. At least 16 died, according to the police department.

There have been 149 shooting victims under 18 this year, as of December 18th, according to police department data. That’s notably higher than the number in 2021, when 138 children were shot. In 2017, when gun violence hit historic lows, just 75 shooting victims were children.

The number of people under 18 charged in shootings is also rising: 105 were reported through the end of September, compared with 102 in all of 2021, according to the most recent data provided by the police department.

“The increase amongst the youth is incredibly tragic, scary,” said Michael-Sean Spence, senior director for community safety initiatives at Everytown for Gun Safety. “The increase has been the highest over the last five years amongst those under the age of 18.”

Experts name several reasons: the pandemic’s upheaval of school and home lives; the proliferation of guns; and the economic devastation of low-income communities over the last three years. Community leaders have said that scant resources for academic support, after-school programmes and mental health services have left children aimless and caught in cycles of violence and retaliation.

In 2020, firearm fatalities became the leading cause of death for young people aged between one and 19 in the United States, surpassing motor vehicle crashes. The rate at which gun deaths rose for children and adolescents between 2019 and 2020 was more than twice as high as the increase among the general population.

Black children have been disproportionately affected. Between 2018 and 2021, firearm deaths doubled among black youths and rose by 50 per cent among Hispanic youths, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Boys were four times more likely than girls to die.

In New York’s communities most affected by violence, memorials of devotional candles, stuffed animals, balloons and handwritten notes propped up under smiling pictures of those killed have become commonplace.

The stories begin to echo as the numbers grow.

Days before Shayma was killed, 17-year-old Jordany Aracena was fatally shot in front of his home in the Bronx neighborhood of Mott Haven. A 17-year-old boy was charged with murder.

Also in Mott Haven, Angellyh Yambo, 16, was shot and killed in April by a stray bullet as she walked home from school. Another 17-year-old boy was charged with murder.

Prince Shabazz and Jacob Borbin from the Bronx, and Justin Streeter from Harlem, were also killed this year. They were all 14.

“I’ve seen so many young people just destroyed,” said Oresa Napper-Williams, founder of Not Another Child, a nonprofit based in Brooklyn. Napper-Williams started the organisation in 2006 after her 21-year-old son, Andrell Daron Napper, was killed by a stray bullet from a gun shot by a 15-year-old.

“Their mental capacity with all of this gun violence - hearing the guns and still having to get up and go to school the next day and walking over the blood of somebody that may have been killed the night before,” she said.

In late November, sitting in the house where Shayma lived, her aunt, Shanikka Harrison, talked about how their lives had changed.

Harrison, a mother of eight who lives on Long Island, inherited a variety of roles after her niece’s killing: spokesperson, resource navigator and chauffeur. She drove her sister, Shayma’s mother, to appointments — including those at the funeral home.

Shayma’s funeral in October was filled with mourners. But two months later, things are quieter and the family’s concern is growing for the siblings, cousins and friends left behind, Harrison said.

“They’re going to be changed forever,” she said. Shayma’s sister returned to the bedroom about two weeks before Thanksgiving — after it was redecorated and a small memorial was added. However, Tayma has become reclusive, her aunt said. Her brother and cousins have become anxious about walking the streets they grew up on.

When she was killed, Shayma was just days from her 18th birthday and months from graduating from high school. She had transferred to Brooklyn Democracy Academy in Brownsville, an alternative for students struggling in traditional schools, and was focused on a newfound dream of college, her family said.

Now, many friends have had to be coaxed into going back to school or resuming work, Harrison said.

Students who are repeatedly exposed to violent crime in their neighborhoods score lower on standardised tests than their peers, especially in reading, according to a study of New York City students published last year. The more often children are exposed to violence, the further they fall behind, researchers found.

Overall crime in the city has dramatically declined since the 1980s and 1990s, and this year shootings and murders decreased from last year as pandemic-era spikes receded. The number of people shot fell by about 17 per cent, while homicides dropped by roughly 13 per cent.

New York City and the state have announced millions in funding for anti-violence programmes. In December of last year alone, the city was awarded a $20.5 million grant from the federal government to invest in violence prevention, specifically for young people.

Mayor Eric Adams expanded a summer jobs programme, as well as Saturday Night Lights, which offers activities for children aged between 11 and 18. And the police department said in a prepared statement that it “routinely collaborates with violence interrupters, local clergy, local organisations, community stakeholders and other city agencies to stem youth violence.”

Last spring, the mayor launched a Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, which he said at the time would “address the root causes of gun violence and prevent shootings before they take place”. The task force has met consistently, said deputy press secretary Jonah Allon. He gave no specifics about what results it had produced or whether it would propose specific initiatives or plans.

“Shootings across the city are down by double digits this year and we have removed nearly 7,000 illegal guns from the streets,” Allon said. “We will continue to build on the productive steps we’ve taken this year and continue to invest in a holistic vision of public safety that keeps our youngest safe from the scourge of gun violence.”

Residents do what they can. In Brooklyn, leaders in Shayma’s neighborhood organised a vigil. Students at her school released balloons. Another high school in Crown Heights, Explore Empower Charter School, held a walkout to raise awareness about gun violence and pay tribute to victims, including Shayma.

Children and adults at the events, many of whom had lost loved ones to guns, expressed frustration at the violence. They were not experts or policymakers, but there was a sense of resolve that if enough voices pleaded for solutions, the killings might decrease.

“New members keep being added to these events and it’s heartbreaking,” Harrison said.

On a Monday in mid-November, Harrison appeared at a community council meeting in the 77th Precinct, where Shayma was killed. She had written several drafts of the message she wanted residents, community leaders and police officers to hear.

“My family and I will get through the toughest battle we have yet to face,” she had written. “We can do this partially, knowing our community is working diligently to empower our children by providing them new, improved programs and resources. Ensuring a safer and more productive future.”

But when Harrison stood to deliver the message, her tongue failed her. She was unable to speak.

“I couldn’t get it out at all,” she said later. “I couldn’t even say my name.”

As she wept at the meeting, an organiser stepped in to read her message for her.

- This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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