MIAMI (WSVN) - A South Florida family is remembering their late loved one on what would have been Sherdavia Jenkin’s 25th birthday. Sixteen years after her murder, they are still on a mission for peace.
Family, local leaders and members of the community all came together hoping to keep the memory alive of a young girl taken too soon.
“She was basically my best friend,” said Sherdavia’s sister, Catherine Jenkins. “We’re only like a year and two months apart, so we’re basically twins. We did everything together.”
The then 9-year-old was tragically killed by a stray bullet as she played on the front porch of her Liberty Square home, back in 2006.
Now, dozens came together at the Sherdavia Jenkins Peace Park to celebrate her life.
“I now think of this day as such a beautiful day. Everyone is out here helping me celebrate with her, celebrating not only her but also the lives of other kids who were lost to senseless gun violence, and I think it’s a beautiful thing,” said Jenkins.
Jenkins’s family and local leaders have held up her memory as a source of inspiration and hoping the park that bears her name will provide a safe space for children in the community.
“This day is an optimistic hope for peace in our community, hoping that this park can become a safe haven for children,” said Sherdavia’s father, David Jenkins. “Liberty City, by definition liberty means freedom, and I want children to be free to know they have a place that they can come and play, a place that they can just come and just sit around.”
The man convicted of firing the stray bullet that killed Jenkins is serving a 50-year prison sentence.
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