RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Family and friends spoke out against the senseless violence that claimed the life of 12-year-old Amiya Moses last weekend on Old Brook Road during a vigil Thursday night.
“For a mom to lose a child during the Christmas holiday, we as the community have to step up,” Ricky Johnson of Ricky Johnson and Friends said. “We can lose one but we also have to reach one.”
As the community, family, and friends paid tribute to Amiya’s memory, the occasion was also being used to heal the community. The Ricky Johnson and Friends group, along with local businesses, took the opportunity to spread some Christmas cheer and positivity with a toy drive.
“I’ve handed everyone out who comes out a toy or a stuffed animal, and what I want them to do is to hold it during this vigil and before they leave,” Johnson said. “I want them to turn to another child and say, ‘Merry Christmas, from me to you’, because that’s what it takes to bring a community back together.”
Amiya’s mother was deeply moved by the show of support, with one person telling her, “we came out here to support you. We came out to support you as a family, not just as some strangers in the street, but as a family.”
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