Loved Ones Plea for Stop to Violence at Vigil for Murdered Victim

Larenzo Esther was just 19-years-old.
Police say he was involved in a shooting late the night of April 22nd. And ended up dying of his injuries a few days later.

Wednesday evening, friends and family gathered at the scene where Esther was gunned down. It happened at the intersection of Westview and Goodwyn Drives in Gibbs Village.

“I’m very heartbroken. I want my son back, which I know I can’t get him back.. That was my first. My first born,” said his mother Patrece Esther.

They lit candles in his memory and released balloons.
They also wanted young people to know that the violence needs to stop.

“I’ve done everything up under the sun that a person could possibly do in the street life. I’ve been shot. I’ve hung with gangs. I’ve sold drugs. So I’m speaking out of experience. I made a promise to myself when I did do my federal bid, I did 6 years, I made a promise to myself that I would help the community. So all these young guys who glorify going to prison and glorify guns, I just want to let them know there is no future in that,” said a friend of Esther’s that calls himself “Kosher.”
Family and friends say Esther was a good kid, who just started hanging around the wrong crowd. A grieving mother now knows this pain first hand.

“If they are kids in the streets, they need to get them now before its too late,” said Patrece.