Hundreds Attend Candlelight Vigil for Fatima Gordon

A community candlelight vigil was held last night for Fatima Gordon, the 28-year-old mother who was shot and killed last week in front of her apartment building on Clarkson Avenue. At its peak, hundreds of community members surrounded the apartment building, laid flowers, lit candles, lofted balloons skyward, and spoke about Fatima’s life as well as the violence that ended it.

Fatima was returning from a trip to nearby Pioneer Supermarkets when a gunman riding a bicycle rode through a crowded block and opened fire, killing her and wounding three others at about 9pm on August 30. She would have celebrated her 29th birthday on Tuesday, the day of the vigil.

As one might expect, the event was extremely emotional, most of all for Fatima’s friends and family, many of whom were in attendance. Pained cries from Fatima’s mother, Cynthia Thomas, and aunt, Janice Thomas, left many observers visibly shaken as the event began.

Fatima’s mother began speaking with Cablevision’s News 12 about neighborhood responsibility for the crime.

“A woman told me that she knew who did it but won’t tell the police because she has problems with the police,” said Ms. Thomas to the cameras before the vigil began. “Well, I got a problem with you.”

Soon, pain turned to anger.

“This whole neighborhood is responsible,” said Ms. Thomas, grandmother to Fatima’s orphaned 4-year-old son. “Tell the police. If you know, tell the police. You’ll save someone else’s life and maybe your own soul. If you see it, say it. If you know it, talk it. One of ya’ll got a stone on your back.”

With emotions running high, Ms. Gordon’s aunt spoke about the city’s controversial stop and frisk policy.

“Don’t vote against stop and frisk,” said the aunt, known around the block as Ms. Janice. “Vote for it. I hear ya’ll saying that they don’t stop people in the white neighborhoods, that they only stop us here. They don’t have this crime in the white neighborhood. Who should they stop? They took my precious niece, they took a mother from her child. They killed a part of us.”

“You can tell the police anonymously,” continued Ms. Thomas. “Not me, I like to be known. I’m covered by the blood of Jesus, that’s my protection. And not every cop is bad. I’m a police advocate because I like the law. I love the po-po.”

“This ain’t the hood, this place is a middle class neighborhood,” said the victim’s cousin. “We all pay over $1,000 in rent, why can’t we be comfortable? We have a few thugs on the block and we have hundreds of people here. Why do they run things? Why are there six cameras on blocks a few minutes away but none here? Why are there no beat cops?”

Fatima’s cousins and close friends gathered in a circle to read a poem expressing their grief. As the poem closed, the crowd released dozens of balloons into the air, screamed goodbyes to their fallen neighbor and sang a loud and soulful rendition of happy birthday to the birthday girl.

Councilman Mathieu Eugene with the victim’s family.

Councilman Mathieu Eugene appeared at the event. Having already spoken at length with the victim’s family last week, he greeted and hugged them, promising to have another conversation during the following day. Euguene shook the hands of several community members, thanking them for showing support to the family.

“Crime is up,” said the Councilman. “Every day, innocent people die. We as a community have to come together to stop crime.”

The group marched several blocks to Pioneer Supermarkets, the victim’s destination before she was killed. Just prior to the march, Fatima’s family worried that Fatima’s mother, Ms. Thomas, would not be able to march because she was too emotional. When the march began, Ms. Thomas led out in front. Chants rang out (“Give up your guns!”) and Ms. Thomas responded louder than the hundreds of marchers (“Give up the shooter!”) in what became a call-and-response march through the neighborhood.

Throughout the event, family members and friends shared stories about the victim in between laughter and tears.

Fatima’s hair was a particularly warm topic of discussion. It had been dyed green for most of the summer and she’d gone blonde just two weeks ago. When she was younger, her cousin said, her hair used to be so long that it’d fall into the toilet and the family would have to cut it off. Fatima’s cousin ran her hand through her own short hair.

“It was long,” she said, “just like mine used to be.”

On Friday, New York Police Department spokesman Paul Browne told the Wall Street Journal that detectives believe they have identified the suspect in the shooting and were attempting to track him down. The Q at Parkside has also heard similar reports from the family.

The NYPD is offered a $12,000 reward leading to the arrest and conviction for the person(s) responsible for her murder. Anyone with information is asked to call the Crime Stoppers Hotline at 800-577-TIPS, give a tip at their Crime Stoppers website, or text tips to 274637 (CRIMES), then then entering TIP577. Police say all calls are kept confidential.

The family announced that a trust fund is being set up for the victim’s young son. More information will be available from Councilman Eugene’s office as soon as today, and we’ll let you know more once we hear it.

“We gotta take back ours,” said the victim’s aunt. “We’re not moving. It’s too hard to find an apartment. We’ve been here for 25 years.”

As the march circled the neighborhood and ended up back on Clarkson Avenue, Fatima’s mother thanked the crowd.

“Now, let’s party. It’s her birthday and that’s what she would have wanted. Let’s party!”