Death ends life on the mend, by Noah Phillips

Jaheim Smallwood, a 23-year-old resident of Red Hook, was fatally shot Tuesday, July 19 outside his home at 75 Bush Street.

A vigil marking the spot where Smallwood was attacked, at 75 Bush Street. (photo by Noah Phillips)
A vigil marking the spot where Smallwood was attacked, at 75 Bush Street. (photo by Noah Phillips)

 

Smallwood was raised in the Red Hook Houses. He is survived by his mother, brother, and young son Jalyn, who was holding his father’s hand when the shooting occurred.

Smallwood was attacked shortly after 8 pm after returning home from the Miccio Center, where he had made an appointment with career coaches and signed up for a GED program. Smallwood returned to Red Hook two months ago after five years of incarceration.

“He was a kid from around here just like all the other kids,” remembers Trequan Bekka, who works at the Miccio Center and Good Shephard Services. “He was taking the first steps to get himself going… he took the initiative, taking steps to be there for his son.”

Detective Nasser at the NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Public Information’s office says that the shooting was definitely intentional, possibly relating to some kind of dispute. Witnesses’ description of the shooter was vague, according to Nasser. As of Friday July 29, no arrests had been made.

Lillie Marshall, President of the Red Hook West Tenants Association, was with him that evening at the Miccio Center.

“When I left, he was signing up for the GED program,” says Marshall. “His life was snuffed out two hours later.”

Ms. Marshall had known Smallwood since his birth, having lived in the same court as his mother.

“I watched him grow up,” says Marshall. “He paid his dues, he did his time, and to come back and go out like that, that was rough.”
Bekka, who is a few years older than Smallwood, remembers the victim as lively and confident. He says that this shooting is a symptom of a larger problem of gun violence in the community, and of the elevation of that violence in Black and Hispanic music and television since the drug epidemic of the 80s and 90s.

“We’re still seeing some of that backlash,” says Bekka. “We’re in a bad space, and we glorify it.”

But Bekka hopes that Smallwood’s death will inspire change.

“You start to see the hurtfulness of it, the pain of it… it’s going to show our young people, you know, look at what we’re doing,” says Bekka. “We’re still a young culture – it’s just going to take time.”

Share:

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn

One Comment

  1. That’s so sad people wake up look around u it doesn’t prove anything now the family of the victim is hurt I heard he has a little boy young fella life is just beginning for u grow up & be positive no matter what peace

On Key

Related Posts

An ode to the bar at the edge of the world, theater review by Oscar Fock

It smells like harbor, I thought as I walked out to the end of the pier to which the barge now known as the Waterfront Museum was docked. Unmistakable were they, even for someone like me maybe particularly for someone like me, who’s always lived far enough from the ocean to never get used to its sensory impressions, but always

Millennial Life Hacking Late Stage Capitalism, by Giovanni M. Ravalli

Back in 2019, before COVID, there was this looming feeling of something impending. Not knowing exactly what it was, only that it was going to impact the economy for better or worse. Erring on the side of caution, I planned for the worst and hoped for the best. My mom had just lost her battle with a rare cancer (metastasized

Brooklyn Bridge Rotary Club returns to it’s roots, by Brian Abate

The first Brooklyn Rotary Club was founded in 1905 and met in Brooklyn Heights. Their successor club, the Brooklyn Bridge Rotary Club, is once again meeting in the Heights in a historic building at 21 Clark Street that first opened in 1928 as the exclusive Leverich Hotel. Rotary is an international organization that brings together persons dedicated to giving back