On January 16, 2011, Kerry Baxter Junior was executed in front of Saint Anthony Church in East Oakland. According to witnesses, Kerry was set upon by two African American males by San Antonio Park. He had accompanied two female friends and was standing by his car when approached by the gunmen. They first told him to give them all of his money before telling him to run for his life.

He was chased around the corner and shot in front of the church, where he died. One witness stated there was a dark blue or black van that sat there until the ambulance and police arrived. The Police Department has done little to solve the killing even though there were two eyewitnesses. When the family calls, they are ignored or told there is nothing new. They have not posted a description of the assailants or a reward for their capture.

On January 16, 2012 the Oscar Grant Committee, and Kerry Junior’s family gathered to honor his memory and demand answers from the Oakland Police Department, the Citizens Police Review Board, and the Internal Affairs Division of the Oakland Police Department. The community joined in remembrance of Kerry Junior and others whose lives were taken by street violence. We want solutions to the needless killing of our children.

“Kerry’s murder has left a void in our family that can never be filled. We will not see him marry, have children, graduate from college, or smile ever again. Those who murdered him do not understand the pain his family is going through,” said his grandmother Anita Wills, who is a member of the Oscar Grant Committee.