West
NEWBURGH – The funeral service for Terence West Jr., the 16-year-old
Newburgh youth who was shot to death on Saturday, May 9, was held Friday
morning.
The service at Holy Temple Church on South Street in the City of Newburgh
drew well over 300 people from the community.
Friends, family and supporters of the victim were saddened and outraged at the circumstances of his death. Latija Cobbs, a friend of the victim’s father who knew Terence his entire life, said parents need to start being more attentive to their children if there is any hope of preventing future violence.
“We need to come together and start telling our kids we love them more or we’re going to see this more often,” said Cobbs.
Councilwoman Gay Lee said the tragedy is further proof that the government institutions of Newburgh are failing their community.
“This death is yet another indication that the city council and the school board have been a big failure,” said Lee. “We need to start coming to the table with a plan and not a plan based on something that you think happened to you but, a plan, a real plan that impacts everybody that helps everybody. Outside of that, they’re shooting from the hip and it don’t mean nothing.”
Lee said she believes the council that is supposed to be protecting the people of the community is pandering to bogus legislation and new steps need to be taken to make sure the community has the support it needs.
“Until we stop really focusing on nonsense legislation and start really taking into consideration that lives matter, we’re going to have problems and we’re going to continue to have problems,” she said. “Our kids are not going to go to college; they’re going to go to jail. Our kids are not going to jail; they’re going to go in the grave. It’s really that simple. We have to develop the legislation.”
Lee and others in the community believe despair and lack of jobs in the city are creating an environment where kids have to create their own activities, in many cases, leading to violence. Lee hopes with economic boosting and job opportunities, tragedies like this can be avoided in the future.
West was laid to rest at Woodlawn Cemetery in New Windsor. He is
survived by his parents, Audrey and Terence West and siblings Raymond
Russell Jr., Teranea Mary West, Shatera West, Terry Nasir West and Terajie
Amir West, as well grandparents, aunts and uncles.
West was one of two people shot and killed last weekend. Another man,
Christian Vaquero, 20, of Newburgh, was shot later the same day and died
days later.
The funeral drew friends and city officials
