[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 64 (Monday, May 22, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4231-S4232]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        VICTIMS OF GUN VIOLENCE

 Mr. REED. Mr. President, it has been more than a year since 
the Columbine tragedy, and still this Republican Congress refuses to 
act on sensible gun legislation.
  Since Columbine, thousands of Americans have been killed by gunfire. 
Until we act, Democrats in the Senate will read some of the names of 
those who lost their lives to gun violence in the past year, and we 
will continue to do so every day that the Senate is in session.
  In the name of those who died, we will continue this fight.
  Following are the names of just some of the people who were killed by 
gunfire one year ago on May 19, 20, and 21.
  May 19, 1999:
  Clarence Arnold, 32, Knoxville, TN
  Troy Blando, 39, Houston, TX
  Don T. Huey, 32, Houston, TX
  David Johnson, 31, Houston, TX
  Booker Miles, 27, Louisville, KY
  James Nash, 40, Atlanta, GA
  Leon Pickett, Detroit, MI
  Mark Thompson, 31, Baltimore, MD
  Willie D. Watts, 39, Gary, IN
  Cedric White, 19, Atlanta, GA
  May 20, 1999:
  Eric Michael Allen, 30, Detroit, MI
  Roderick R. Brown, 27, Memphis, TN
  John Cosgrove, 71, Miami-Dade County, FL
  Paul Davis, 28, Chicago, IL
  Stephen Entsminger, 49, Davenport, IA
  Maria Josefina Eslava, 23, Houston, TX
  Curtis O. Green, 17, Chicago, IL
  Travis Johnson, 20, Rockford, IL
  Demarcus Kelly, 26, Atlanta, GA
  Aaron Murphy, Jr., 40, Macon, GA
  Kevin Stokes, 27, Atlanta, GA
  Male, 56, Honolulu, HI
  May 21, 1999:
  James Alberts, 35, Bridgeport, CT
  Quan Bell, 28, Detroit, MI
  Edward Belton, 18, St. Louis, MO
  Richard Daniels, 27, Fort Worth, TX
  Anthony Houston, 21, Detroit, MI
  Michelle Jackson, 21, St. Louis, MO
  Steven Jupiter, 19, Baltimore MD
  Werner Muense, 81, Minneapolis, MN
  John Minaya, 19, Providence, RI
  Karl Paul Pitts, 22, Detroit, MI
  Michael Marion Raymond, 22, Washington, DC
  Osualdo Rodriquez, 23, Houston, TX
  Sheri Thielen, 40, Minneapolis, MN
  May 19, 1999 (Houston, Texas):
  Police Officer Troy Blando was fatally shot while attempting to 
arrest an auto theft suspect. Jeffery Demond Williams pulled into a 
parking lot in a stolen Lexus, and the 39-year-old Blando, working on 
the auto theft task force, was undercover in an unmarked vehicle. 
Blando approached Williams after he had run a check on the license 
plate and discovered the vehicle had been stolen.
  A struggle ensued, and Blando put away his gun as he tried to 
handcuff the suspect's wrists. At that point, Williams pulled out a gun 
and shot the police officer, who was pronounced dead later that evening 
after doctors were unable to save him.
  Police Officer Troy Blando is survived by his widow who suffers from 
multiple sclerosis, and his 14-year-old son. Williams has been 
convicted and sentenced to die.
  May 20, 1999 (Conyers, Georgia):
  As students mingled before class at Heritage High School in Conyers, 
Georgia, on May 20, 1999, fifteen-year-old Thomas Solomon pulled out a 
rifle and a handgun and began to open fire. Six students were injured 
and an assistant principal had to talk Solomon out of killing himself 
after he put a gun in his mouth. This incident took place exactly one 
month after Littleton, Colorado.
  May 21, 1999 (Providence, Rhode Island):

[[Page S4232]]

  Twenty-four-year-old John Minaya was accosted and fatally shot 
outside a busy Dairy Queen ice cream shop in Providence's West End 
early on the evening of May 21, 1999. Officers found Minaya lying on 
the pavement in the parking lot shortly after 7:00 p.m. He had been hit 
more than once, and people were ministering to him. He was taken to 
Rhode Island Hospital, but he died within minutes.
  Though it was still springtime, Minaya was Providence's 13th homicide 
victim of 1999, a year in which there were ultimately 26 murders in the 
city, up from 15 in 1998 and 13 in 1997. The majority of these killings 
were committed with firearms, and most of these were handguns.
  The children and families who witnessed the shooting of John Minaya 
in broad daylight at a Dairy Queen in Providence will carry the 
horrific memory of that day with them for as long as they live. We 
should do our part to ensure that fewer Americans experience gun 
violence by passing common sense gun legislation without further 
delay.

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