Almost a year after her son was fatally gunned down at a party, Luisa Tavares returned to the Roxbury neighborhood where her son spent his final moments.
She left some of the 250 purple business cards she had made on car windshields and on the doorstep of the building where the party was held.
“I was so angry,” she said. “I know people were telling me it’s dangerous … It helps me. I wouldn’t say it helps me feel better … at least I’m doing something about it for Andrew.”
Tavares’ 17-year-old son Andrew was shot about 3:30 a.m. March 28. Police have not made an arrest.
That’s part of the reason why Tavares had the cards made.
They include the police crime tip phone number and text-a-tip number.
But they also include a message that Tavares said she hopes to spread among teens throughout the city.
The cards read “Think Peace.” She’ll hand them out at her son’s one-year memorial service March 27.
She’s taken the message online, too, where she’s using her son’s Facebook page to reach out and preach to his friends.
Tavares’ family was rocked days after her son’s murder by another murder right outside their Dorchester home.
One of Andrew’s friends, Manuel DaVeiga, had come to pay respects to Andrew at a makeshift memorial near the family’s home on Navillus Terrace. Authorities said he became involved in a confrontation with police, ran down the street, fired at officers who then returned fire. However, authorities later ruled that DaVeiga was killed when he shot himself in the head.
The officer-involved shooting increased tensions between community members and police.
Tavares said she tries to tell his friends through Facebook that the “stop snitching” mentally doesn’t work and results in more killings.
“If they speak up, maybe we wouldn’t have so many killings,” she said.
