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Youth Football Game Shooting Victim Remembered At March, Rally

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Dozens of community members came together Sunday afternoon for a march from Wilkinsburg to East Liberty following last weekend's deadly shooting in the stands of a youth football game.

The march started in Wilkinsburg. Many of the children who witnessed the shooting are from the community.

The marchers honored the memory of 64-year-old Charlene Walters, an innocent victim who died after she was shot in the stands.

"[She] came to the game to see her grandson play football, watch her granddaughter cheerlead, and lost her life, and for what? For a dispute between two other people she had absolutely nothing to do with," said Letitia Walker, Walters' friend.

A 27-year-old man, who police say was the intended target, was wounded and another woman was shot in the hand.

It was a day that community member Tricia King says she will never forget.

"It was horrible," said King. "It was really horrible seeing the babies cry, parents suffering and love ones suffering."

"I came out here because I'm just tired," added Kadira Jones, another community member. "When is it going to stop?"

Along their journey, the participants came down Bennett Street through Homewood spreading their anti-violence message and hoping someone with information on the case will come forward.

Marchers say it's time to end the "no snitch rule."

"Just pretty much come forward; it's not a snitch," Marqeula Crosby, a marcher. "Just come forward, tell what you saw because it's not fair everybody else that the kids are scared to go down and cheer."

"I'm trying to bring awareness to the people who know whose doing it, who seen something and won't come forward to the police. We need you to step forward. We need you to talk. We need you to tell," added Walker.

The march ended with a prayer vigil at the Pittsburgh Obama 6-12 school field where the shootings happened - prayers that gunshots will never ring out again at a youth football game.

RELATED LINKS:
Security Changes Noticeable At Youth Football Game (10/20/12)
More East Liberty News

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