MIAMI (WSVN) - South Florida leaders are asking the public to refrain from firing their guns into the air during Fourth of July celebrations to prevent stray bullets from killing an innocent bystander.
David Jenkins, who lost his daughter, Sherdavia Jenkins, to a stray bullet, said it’s a story no father wants to live, but it is a story he hopes will save lives.
“My daughter Sherdavia is a Phoenix,” he said. “Her spirit rises out of the ashes.”
Sherdavia was shot and killed on July 1, 2006 outside her Liberty City home when a fight broke out between two men.
Jenkins said his daughter was one of 16 children killed by gun violence that year.
“Love your children, cherish your children, and at all costs, please keep your children safe,” he said.
Since the fatal shooting, Sherdavia’s family and friends have gathered in a Liberty City park that was named after her to save lives and to fight for a safer community.
David Jenkins Jr., Sherdavia’s younger brother, hopes to share his sister’s story with classmates to help end gun violence.
“Soon, everything will be OK, like a better a place to live in, if we can just stop everything that’s going around and happening in all these communities,” he said.
With the Fourth of July days away, community leaders are hoping to use the anniversary of the young girl’s death to share another message to prevent a senseless tragedy.
“No celebratory gunfire. No gunfire, period, within our communities because you never know where that bullet is going to land,” Elaine Black said.
As Sherdavia’s family laid down dozens of roses for children who have been taken by gunfire throughout South Florida over the years, they hope to get this message across.
“Put the guns down because guns don’t solve problems. They create more,” Jenkins said.
Sherdavia’s family hopes the message of celebratory gunfire reaches beyond the holiday.
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