A Young Mother Murdered in Brooklyn

I did not know Nicky Perry. Perhaps she was one of many to whom I nodded in passing. Did we ever notice each other? Nicky lived close to me. I once lived a few houses away. Today she is dead, shot in front of her five year old child in their apartment. No motive has been established. No suspects have been named.

So far, Nicky's death has not been selected for the media spotlight. There are murders every hour. Some pass with little note Others are investigated, dissected and examined. The murders of the wealthy, the influential and the famous are put on the express track. They are given higher priority. Sometimes you have to lobby to get a murder taken seriously. I have seen it before. I was in a demonstration 18 years ago. A woman in our community was murdered. We marched every day for a week. They found the killer. He's sitting today.

Nicky Perry was not famous. There are no flags flying at half mast. The one story that I was able to find did not even show her picture. She was a mother, shot in front of her own child in his and her own home. The numbness of this poor child's grief is almost impossible to imagine. Perhaps he will stay with an aunt or with grandparents. Who knows? To Nicky Perry's child, the sun of his world has just died. Who could do such a thing? Who could leave such scars on the psyche of a little boy? Somewhere the murderer is alive. Is there any remorse? Is he at all shaken by the magnitude of what he has inflicted?

I don't want Nicky Perry's murder to be forgotten. We are all diminished by the freedom of her killer to walk the streets. Her orphaned son's neighbours and playmates walk the streets in fear of the same thing happening to them. Behind the murder statistics are tears.. Behind the numbers is heartache and loneliness. For even one child to bear such anguish as the murder of his mother should be more than we can stant.

For the sake of all of us, Nicky Perry's murder should not be forgotten. May G-d console her parents and orphaned son. And may G-d avenge her blood.






http://www.ny1.com/content/top_stories/95412/vigil-held-for-brooklyn-mother-as-police-search-for-killer/Default.aspx