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.

Shrine for Keenan Denzel Woods

Keenan Denzel Woods' shrine, in the 1200 block of Holbrook Terrace NE, Washington DC, is directly across the road from where he was killed. Police reports said he was found dead on the street at 11:40 PM on August 23, 2008. A passerby told me that the homeowner where the murder occured did not want the shrine erected on their property.

The shrine is at the edge of the Trinidad neighborhood, site of so much recent tragedy.

Young Mr. Woods lived from August 8, 1986 to August 23, 2008. He had just turned twenty two.

Shrine for Shanika Lee

Shanika Lee was shot Wednesday August 15, 2008, in the quiet alley behind 3200 E St SE, Washington DC, a modest neighborhood of small well-kept homes. No arrests have been made yet.
Her shrine borders a ripening community garden. Shanika was 24 years old.

Her memorial's makers are direct in their message:

Tell someone.

Shrine to unidentified victim-1st & O St NW

I encountered this shrine at the corner of 1st St. and O St. NW, Washington DC

I met a rather haggard homeless man, Franklin, at the shrine. He told me it was about a week old (and it appears to be so) and that it was made in memory of a child who was killed. It appears otherwise from the writing on the tee shirt ("Hood 4 Eva" etc), but there are no liquor bottles at the site, so it is possible. The shrine backs up to a fenced public schoolyard.

I could find essentially nothing online, except that a killing occured there recently, in late July 2008- I think July 24? No name of the victim is evident at the site or on the web yet.

It is the fourth shrine I have photographed along this extended and busy stretch of 1st St. NW in the past five+ years.

A prayer, and a photographic libation to you, whoever you are.

You were somebody's child...

Shrine to unidentified recent murder victim

Yet another shrine along the DC-PG County border, on Southern Avenue.
This small and fragile memorial is in the 2000 block of Southern Ave SE, Washington DC.

Excerpted from the Washington Post and DC Police reports:
"At 2:13 a.m. Tuesday [July 29 2008], police found the body of a man on the 1900 block of Southern Avenue SE. He had been shot multiple times.

Police said they were withholding the identity of the victim until the family is located and notified."

No more information was yet available on the day I visited this shrine.

My thanks to artist Eve Hennessa, who journeyed with me on this day of searching.

Shanika Nicole & Jay Shaun Howard Shrine

Shrine in the 800 block of Southern Ave SE, Washington DC, on the Prince Georges County MD border
DC Police report:
"On Sat., Jan.28, 2006, at 7:45 pm, two pedestrians were struck by a motor vehicle in the 800 block of Southern Ave SE. The pedestrians were transported by a DC Fire and EMS to a local hospital. One of them, 25-year-old Shanika Nicole Howard, of no fixed address, was critically injured. Her son, 7-year-old Jay Shawn Howard, was pronounced dead." Shanika Howard died on 1/31/06.

The shrine displays a very poignant tribute to this young mother, written in magic marker on white fabric.
"I WILL ALWAYS MISS U
ALWAYS U WAS MY
BEST FRIEND
&
SISTER &
MY WIFE &
LOVER"

Thirteen year old victim, Alonzo Robinson- Trinidad neighborhood

Shrine to Alonzo Roberston,13 years old, in the 1500 block of Holbrook St NE Washington DC, another victim of the terrible upsurge in violence in the Trinidad section of the city. Young Alonzo was killed 7/19/08. Three others were wounded at this location according to police, including his mother, Marcella Robinson, who was shot in the arm & hospitalized. She & her son had come from Alabama to visit family. No motive or suspect is known. There is a significant reward posted by the police on his shrine.

In an effort to shut down the epidemic of violence, Police Chief Lanier ordered a blockade to be set up in the area. She had patrol cars posted at every corner, checking every person who came in and out of the area as to their reasons for entry. I briefly spoke with an officer about my project, and was politely directed around the security cordon to Alonzo Robinson's shrine. There were a number of passersby and loiterers about, but unlike other experiences I have had in the city, nobody spoke to me. Trinidad, also known as Ivy City, is bloody ground.