LaDonta Longshore "Tell Juju wat up. See ya RIP"

This unusual and heartfelt memorial is erected near the spot where LaDonta, aka Donta, Longshore was murdered this week.

from the Washington Post, Metro section, p. C3, November 9, 2008:
"... DC Police said LaDonta Longshore, a 9th grader at Dunbar High School was one of the youngest people killed in the city this year... he was found about 10:30 PM Monday [11/3/08] behind his apartment building in the 1200 block of Brentwood Rd NE... He died Wed. [11-5-08] in a hospital. The shooting is under investigation. Relatives said the teenager was popular, friendly, & fond of music & electronic games... His mother, Crystal Longshore, said she had 'no understanding' of why he was shot' 'None at all.'"
He played with a basketball group with the Brookland Union Baptist Church.

The shrine was spread all along a blank wall behind the apartment, with lots of magic-marker grafitti messages added, including the cryptic "Tell Juju wat up. See ya RIP"

Evidence of the candlelight vigil mentioned in the paper was present. I briefly met one of his teen cousins at the site. I may be misreading things, but he seemed primarily interested in the fact that news of the shooting had made the papers.

Shrine #2 to James Kilgore

This is the shrine erected for James Kilgore by his family, located in the 1400 block of Montana Ave. NE, Washington DC.

Another, smaller, shrine built a half-block away in the 1500 block of Downing Ave NE, is on the site where he was killed.

Shrine #1 to James Kilgore

This memorial for James Kilgore, located in the 1500 block of Downing St. NE, Washington DC, is on the spot where he was killed, according to a neighbor I spoke with.
This is one of two shrines to Mr. Kilgore within a block. His family built another, larger, shrine, "with more bears, on a big tree" around the corner on Montana Ave NE, where he lived.

The neighbor told me firmly that Mr. Kilgore had been "a good guy."
Now all that's left are some bears, bottles, pictures, memories, and a cross.

RIP

Shrine to Bernard Holmes

Shrine for Bernard "Bert" Holmes, 35, killed in a liquor store parking lot in the 3500 block of Wheeler Rd SE, Washington DC, of a gunshot wound to the body at 4:22 PM. He died in a nearby hospital at 5:09 PM. He lived in the 700 block of Congress St SE.

While photographing, a childhood friend of his spoke wih me, and related that Mr. Holmes left behind a wife and two sons, about four & thirteen years old. There was to be a candlelight vigil on 11/8/08, and his funeral was held on Monday 11/10/08.

The family is very distraught. His friend told me nothing anyone could do would ever justify killng someone. Amen.

I returned after the funeral and photographed new objects that had been left in homage, flowers and cigarette packs mainly, that had been placed at the gathering over the weekend.

There is currently another shrine standing within sight distance of Mr. Homes shrine.

Shrine to another unknown victim: 3200 block of Wheeler Rd. SE DC

Shrine to an unknown victim in the 3200 block of Wheeler Rd. SE, Washington DC. It is right next to the entrance to McGogney Elementary School.

I was looking for a shrine of a murder victim that occurred last night in the parking lot of a liquor store on Wheeler Rd. SE in Washington DC. The police have not yet released the name of the slain man. A neighbor commented that "they haven't built a memorial for him yet."

Another passerby told me this shrine, immediately across the street from last night's murder, was for somebody else who had been killed some time before (corroborated by the wear and rain marks on the bear and other objects). He did not know the name of this victim, and there was no evidence on the shrine of a name or other identifying material.

Misery seems to love company.

UPDATE- a neighbor I met at a nearby shrine a few days after i posted this shrine, told me he believed that this memorial is to a young man named "Tim." He may have been killed by a motorcycle.

Halloween Shrine to Number 21

There are still quite a number of small shrines in the DC area in memory of slain Redskins athlete, Sean Taylor.

This one, on a tree in the 1400 block of 1st Street NW, was recently decorated for Halloween.

See: http://dcshrines.blogspot.com/2008/01/sean-taylor-monument.html

A shrine (for a different victim of violence) that was almost directly across the street from this one has recently been taken down.
See: http://dcshrines.blogspot.com/2008/08/shrine-to-unidentified-victim-1st-o-st.html

Ground Zero - 3900 S. Capitol St SE

This rebuilt/renewed shrine is at one of the two memorial sites in the 3900 block of S. Capitol St. SE, Washington, DC.

The marker on the huge toy bear indicates it is for "Big D," possibly. No other information available.

This shrine must have been erected just the day I photographed it - it had been raining hard for the four previous days. It has a magic marker on a string attached so passersby can write their comments. There are also a few small remnants of the previous shrine on the site on the ground- champagne bottle tops, a tiny weathered toy bear, etc.

One of the written mementoes:
"Ground Zero
Life
Love
My Dude"

Seems exactly at the heart of the matter.

Update: May 14, 2009.

This shrine has been moved across the street from the tree where it was previously. I asked the man sitting by it, John, about this. He did not know for sure, but thought he owners of the auto parts store across the street wanted it taken down, so the slain man's friends placed it by the side of this gas station. John thought the killing had something to do with a carjacking.


I have found no infomation on this murder online.

Update January 7, 2010
This shrine has been regularly renewed - it is now on its second site. It seems to be for "Mike-Mike" I have been able to get no other information on its origin.

Aaron Thomas - police tape

I found no shrine at this murder site, only the ragged remnants of police crime scene tape. Aaron Thomas, 19, was fatally shot near the intersection of 7th St. and Mississippi Ave. SE, Washington DC.

According to the Washington Post, quoting from police sources, Mr. Thomas had walked into United Medical Center at about 9:20 PM on September 22nd, with a gunshot wound in his back, He died about 2 hours later after being transferred to the Washington Hospital Center's trauma unit. No motive in the shooting has yet been determined.

I searched for a shrine near his home in the 100 block of Galveston St SE, only a few blocks from where he was killed.

Nothing.

RIP: Omar "Spoon" Finney - "I Bet You Gleesing in Heaven"

Omar "Spoon" Finney was born May 10, 1986, and was killed August 11, 2008.

His shrine is in the 500 block of Newcomb Street SE, Washington DC. According to his friends who built the shrine, Mr. Finney was shot elsewhere, but "this was his tree, man."

A notable aspect is that there is money ($1 dollar bills) in almost every bottle of vodka left at the shrine. His friends drink the vodka, and honor him by placing money in the emptied flasks. They also pour Spoon his own cup & leave it out for him. They told me that someone tried to steal some of the money, They related with some grim pride that the would-be thief got badly beaten up for his efforts ( "dude didn't walk away so good"). They insisted they would keep their friend's shrine up forever.

Omar Finney left a young child behind. I also met his sister, a quiet woman with a purple streak in her hair.

Police "officers responding to a report of a shooting about 10:06 a.m. in the 3200 block of Sixth Street SE on August 11, 2008, found Omar Finney unconscious on the pavement," according to the Washington Post (Tuesday, August 12; Page B04). "Police said Finney, 22, of the 2900 block of Second Street SE, suffered a gunshot wound to the chest and was pronounced dead at a hospital." There is a $25,000 reward posted for information leading to the arrest of his attacker.

There was another person, Gemel Williams, killed on this same block on 9/3/08, but there was no shrine as yet, nor were the makers of Spoon's shrine even aware of this news.



Update- October 2009:
These twin shrines of T-shirts for Spoon (Omar Finney) are in the 500 block of Malcolm X Boulevard SE, Washington DC.

I have no idea what "gleesing" is. New to me...

The original shrine was on Newcomb Street SE, about one block away. The friends who erected it vowed that they would keep the shrine up forever. So far, they have kept their promise.