Sahjir Rivera was 17 when he was shot four times at point-blank range on Dec. 4, 2022. The attack left him permanently blind and changed his life in a matter of seconds.
“I became a statistic, a victim and a survivor”, Rivera told the crowd during a gun violence prevention forum held Saturday, May 17, in Durham.
In his speech, Rivera called on those in positions of power to start asking the right questions about how gun violence affects communities like his.
“Don’t hesitate,” he said. “I know this topic is really really scary sometimes to talk about and it has a big impact and it it touches your soul and leaves you a mark.”
Rivera said his testimony aims to put a face to the numbers. “I’m a living statistic. You know all that data you see? I’m here to show you what happens afterwards.”
North Carolina had the 12th highest firearm homicide rate in the country in 2022, according to data from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Center for Gun Violence Solutions. The report also found that firearms were the leading cause of death among children and teens ages 1 to 17 that year.
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Community unity to prevent gun violence
The event, titled “A partnership between the community and academia to prevent firearm violence in Durham, North Carolina,” presented early findings from a community-academic collaboration to curb gun violence.
“We’ve been working together for two years to build an alliance of community members, youth, parents, leaders, policymakers, nurses, and doctors to come together and use data to guide our next steps to prevent gun violence,” said Rosa Gonzalez Guarda, a public health nurse and professor at the Duke University School of Nursing, in an interview with Enlace Latino NC.
Gonzalez Guarda said she hopes the community will continue working as a united front to end gun violence in Durham.
“Our next step is to keep sharing the data we’ve gathered and identify specific actions to take—tomorrow, in a year, and five years from now,” she said.
Preliminary findings identified five key themes: the widespread ripple effect of gun violence; social influences; challenges with parental discipline; the need for a unified, youth-centered community response; and healing-centered approaches for grieving families.
North Carolina had the 12th highest firearm homicide rate in the country in 2022, according to the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions. That same year, firearms were the leading cause of death for children and teens ages 1 to 17.
“We are not statistics. We are reality.”
“My daughter was taken by gun violence on April 7, 2022. No one should have to go through what I’ve gone through,” said Nelly Montes de Oca, mother of Emily Argueta Montes de Oca, “an angel in heaven,” in an interview with Enlace Latino NC.
“There’s no name for what I am. I’m not a widow. I’m not an orphan. I don’t have my daughter anymore,” she said. “We’re fighting to prevent gun violence. We are not a statistic—we are reality. And it’s a cruel reality that happens every day and goes unchecked.”
Montes de Oca described her daughter’s murder as the darkest day of her life, a moment that forced her to find strength and fight for justice.
“Thank God he is now serving a 19-year sentence. It’s not ideal, because we live in a broken system, but that’s what justice decided. And I will keep fighting, not just for my daughter, but for other families,” she said.
“His name is Erick Ray Hudson. He tried to kill my son-in-law, Carlos Cortez. He shot him three times, and he survived. But he also shot my daughter, Emily, three times. He planned everything. He changed weapons two or three times, using different calibers,” she recalled.
“Young people must be first and foremost”
Durham Mayor Leonardo Williams emphasized the importance of listening to young people and taking responsibility as adults and leaders.
“We are the ones that are setting the policy. So I want to make sure that I’m present”, he told Enlace Latino NC. “”I think that’s what leadership is really all about so I’m here today. I’ll be here tomorrow and I’ll keep engaging with them because I believe that they’re not only hold all of our opportunities, but also they hold the answers.”
While acknowledging that local leaders don’t control gun laws, Williams said they can still raise their voices to spotlight the issue.
“We can’t control the law at the local level, but we can control our behavior amongst one another and we can control how important we make it.” he said. “So my goal—selfishly, I’ll say—is to ensure youth safety is our No. 1 priority.”
“Everything else can exist and it’s preferential, but the preservation of life of our young people must be first and foremost”, he said. “That shouldn’t be device if we should all come together on that.”
Solidarity between communities
Community organizer Alexandra Valladares said the gathering was a vital step toward real solutions, bringing together the most affected communities—Black and Latino residents—to build solidarity.
“The conversation focused on the shared urgency of addressing rising violence, especially among children and teens,” she said.
Valladares also underscored the need for active collaboration between government departments, community leaders, and young researchers.
“Both the mayor and the sheriff expressed their commitment to listening to youth and working directly with them to prioritize their protection,” she said.
“This kind of cross-cultural and cross-sector dialogue marks real progress toward a unified and effective response,” Valladares added.
She also urged gun owners to educate children and keep firearms securely stored.
“There should be no accessible guns—not even on top of a closet. That’s not safe. They must be locked up,” she stressed. “Don’t leave guns in car trunks. That’s the No. 1 source of access for youth, especially in break-ins where they quickly smash a window and find them,” she warned.
“The essence of community is coming together and helping each other”
Durham County Sheriff Clarence Birkhead made an emotional appeal to young people to take the lead in addressing gun violence.
Although community leaders have been working on this issue for years, Birkhead said youth now hold the power to make a difference.
“Your voices carry far more weight than mine,” he said.
Birkhead also criticized lawmakers for failing to pass common-sense gun reforms and said he sees himself not as a politician but as a public servant dedicated to his community.
He reaffirmed his commitment to Durham’s youth, offering the support of his team and the Sheriff’s Office in schools and neighborhoods throughout the county.
“I can’t do anything without your voices,” he said.
In a conversation with Enlace Latino NC, Birkhead said community events like this one are essential for building mutual support.
“I think it’s gonna take events like this for us to come together as a community to support one another whether it’s around gun violence, school bullying, immigration, whatever the case,” he said. “That’s my message—our office is here for the community, to do whatever we can to support each and every one of them.”
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“License to kill” laws advance in state legislature
Two controversial bills—HB 674, which would eliminate permit expiration, and SB 280/HB 193, which would allow concealed firearms in private schools—are moving forward in the current legislative session.
“Unfortunately, both in the House and the Senate, there are permitless scary bills,” said Democratic State Sen. Natalie Murdock in an interview with Enlace Latino NC. “They call them ‘freedom to carry’ laws. I’ve renamed those as in ‘freedom to kill’ bill.”
“We have seen it in Tennessee and many other states: when they enact this law, homicides go through the roof,” she said. “Because the issue is that we simply have far too many guns on the street.”
State Sen. Natalie Murdock said the message to all communities is that real change begins locally.
“It starts with reclaiming our streets, launching community programs, and just caring for our neighbors,” she said.
She also called attention to the school-to-prison pipeline, especially for children with disabilities.
“We want to support locally programs like sidekicks academy where you can channel that frustration into things like taekwondo and we also have to crack down locally on the school to prison pipeline”, she said. “Those suspensions of children that may have a disability and can’t get that out. So they may become violent and then that can isolate them to being violent individuals.”
Murdock stressed the need to continue grassroots efforts, noting that state and federal leaders have failed to act.
“But it’s not too late. Call your legislators ask them to make sure the freedom to kill bill is dead on arrival,” she said.
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