During the funeral service for Kalif Goens this afternoon, residents were urged to not retaliate, according to a local pastor who attended.
”We walked out of that service feeling good about the word that we heard and thought it resonated with the young men and people in the community, but evidently it did not,” said Pastor Greg Andrews from House of Deliverance Ministry in Hamilton.
That's because a few minutes after that funeral service, gun fire filled Central Avenue in a drive-by shooting that left one man dead.
Three suspects are in custody. Police have not released the identity of the man who died.
People are angry and upset after the shooting last week that took the life of Goens, according to Andrews.
“Because of that, we are here now, hours after the funeral for another young man’s life lost in a senseless killing,” he said.
Goens died after a shooting early Sunday at Doubles bar, 1555 Main St. His brother, Mondale Goens, is charged with murder in his death. Mondale Goens is also accused of shooting Katrina Price, 18, of McKinley Drive, Hamilton, and Tavaris Gilbert, 20, of Corliss Ave., Hamilton.
Pastor Shaquila Mathews of the Truth & Life Church in Hamilton, had just left the funeral services for Kalif Goens, when she heard about the drive-by shooting on Central Avenue. “I was still in my clothes from the funeral.”
Mathews said that she was informed by people on the scene that there was at least one fatality.
She said that there were arguments after the funeral services and it was “awful that someone died right after hearing a message on how young people need to make a difference.”
“Elder Dean Curtis from Community Friendship gave the message to young folks at the service,” Mathews said. “He said we got to start praying for each other and stop preying on each other.”
Mathews added that young people are starting to see that “the streets are real. They think that the streets love them, but the same person you sit on a bar stool with can be the same that will gun you down.”