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Spurt in homicides prompts new call for peace in Camden

Nearly 150 people gathered in a park across from Camden High School on Monday to call for an end to the city's violence, following six slayings in two weeks.

Children listen as members of Camden One Love speak against the city's violence during the Farnham Park rally.
Children listen as members of Camden One Love speak against the city's violence during the Farnham Park rally.Read moreSTEVEN M. FALK / Staff Photographer

Nearly 150 people gathered in a park across from Camden High School on Monday to call for an end to the city's violence, following six slayings in two weeks.

"We're not willing to say, 'This is just how it is,' " said Doug Logan, 44, a pastor who lives a few blocks from where twin brothers were found shot dead in a car on Aug. 21. "We're praying and praying and hoping something changes."

The rally at Farnham Park was organized by Camden One Love, a group created in response to the summer violence.

Moneke Singleton-Ragsdale, a local activist, and Tawanda Jones, who leads a nonprofit drill team, the Camden Sophisticated Sisters, formed the group, along with April Saul, a former Inquirer photographer.

Among the calls Monday were for more coordination among the city's nonprofits.

Singleton-Ragsdale estimates there are 600, many of which, she said, don't always talk to each other, making it difficult to provide more resources to keep young people off the streets and out of trouble.

"We can't get them together," she said of the nonprofits. "So right now we're trying to connect the dots."

There have been 22 homicides in Camden this year, including one in which police fatally shot a man. The city had the same number of slayings at this time last year, which ended with 33 homicides.

Many have gone unsolved. Of this year's killings - not including the police-involved shooting of Oscar Camacho Sr. - four, or 19 percent, have been solved. Of the 33 cases last year, 11, or one-third, have been solved.

"Detectives are working tirelessly to solve these homicides, but we need witnesses to come forward and cooperate," said Andy McNeil, a spokesman for the Camden County Prosecutor's Office.

At Monday's rally, despite the recent killings, the mood was upbeat as volunteers passed out free hot dogs, music blasted from speakers, and children and teenagers shot hoops.

Then, as several speakers came up in the middle of the basketball court and grabbed a microphone, the message turned blunt.

"Stop being your children's friend," said Latonya McGorder, 50, of Camden. Her son, Lance Fulton, is serving a 25-year prison sentence for his involvement in the gang beating of two people in 2010. She told the crowd to "let somebody else's experience be your teacher," so they don't make the same mistakes.

"You're a punk if you pick up a gun," Vida Rosiji, 54, of Camden, said to the gathering. She told the young people to "pick up your fists, put down your guns," because "at the end of the day, if you pick up your fists, everybody goes home."

All six of the city's slayings in August involved guns.

The most recent happened Friday outside the Northgate I Apartments complex, where Johnathan Simmons, 19, of Camden, was found shot and lying in a rear lot. Authorities are seeking two men who were seen fleeing the area and into a tunnel beneath the Benjamin Franklin Bridge.

The five other individuals slain in August were also men between the ages of 18 and 26. They include the twin brothers, Markice and Maurice Harper, 26, who were found dead in the front seats of an idling Jeep in Fairview.