RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — A 10-year-old boy who held his grandfather in his arms as he died is speaking out against gun violence across Richmond.
On Tuesday morning, that boy and his family — the family of Derrit “Pete” Banks — stood together.
Family, friends and even strangers gathered at the site starting around 4 p.m. Tuesday, March 5. They anticipated the emotional evening ahead where they would honor the late Banks’s life at a vigil along West Clay Street right by where the fatal shooting took place on Feb. 25.
The Richmond man’s grandson, Mi’King Fountain, may be young, but he has a lot to say. He is fed up and ready to spark change.
Speaking — first privately with media, then publicly at the vigil — he said he never should have had to witness his role model and father figure die. He pleaded with the community to help put a stop to gun violence.
“I thought my life would be better,” Fountain said. “I thought my papa would be standing with me right now from this day forward, but now he’s gone.”
At just 10 years old, Fountain has seen things many spend their whole life fearing. That day, he had to watch as his grandfather was fatally shot.
“I was holding him in my arms telling him, ‘No, don’t die on me,’” Fountain said of that tragic night. “‘Don’t die on me, Papa. Don’t die on me.’”
Covered in blood, with his 2-year-old brother next to him, the third grader tried to save the man he called “Papa.”
“Nobody ever died in my arms before,” Fountain said. “I’d do anything to make him come back, but I can’t.”
Even though the young boy cannot bring Banks back, he’s using his voice to do what he can to foster change.
“I don’t like when people shoot,” Fountain said. “Where I come from, people shoot a lot. Southside [Richmond] is a place where people shoot and stuff.”
Loved ones shared an image of Banks, smiling in the color red – a color he loved. This picture was taken at an “October London” show, a favorite singer of theirs.
As a symbol of honor and love, Fountain sang at Banks’ vigil, hoping his grandfather could hear him.
Fountain said Banks was like his dad. He teared up and asked which male figure he was supposed to look up to, now that the man he loved and respected most is gone.
The killing blindsided the entire family. Banks’s sister-in-law Celestine Harvey is still trying to grasp the loss.
“This don’t feel real,” Harvey said, crying. “This feels like a dream … a bad one.”
Police arrested his next-door neighbor, Jermorrie Simmons, for the crime shortly after it occurred. Adding to the baffling case, Banks’s fiancé, Shenna Thrower, said the man who is accused of killing her significant other was generally friendly.
She shared a recent incident where Simmons tried to save Banks.
“He was trying to do the Heimlich maneuver on him,” Thrower said. “And then two weeks later –[Simmons] just took his life?”
Thrower added that she feels Simmons took everything from her.
Officials are not currently looking for any additional suspects.
For more information about Banks and how his loved ones are honoring him, visit this website.
