Community remembers young mother, child shot and killed in Cleveland

CLEVELAND - A crowd gathered where the bodies of a young Cleveland mother and her 1-year-old daughter were found Sunday afternoon.

Despite an Amber Alert, Latasha Jackson, 19, and Chaniya Wynn, 1, were killed in an abandon garage at Union Avenue and East 71st Street. Cleveland police said Jackson’s ex-boyfriend, 35-year-old Thomas Lorde, shot them both, before turning the gun on himself.

“A lot of this is fed by the poison people listen to, and the poison they put in their bodies and their minds,” one man said to the crowd during the vigil Tuesday night.

While some chanted along with the demonstrators, others joined hands and prayed. The sounds of “This little light of mine” filled the area, which is now marked with teddy bears and flowers.

“On behalf of the family, I can say they really appreciate the support. I can say they didn’t anticipate this many people being here,” the victims’ relative Bonnie Newell said. “The gap can’t be closed, but it can start to be mended with the outpouring of love.”

Lorde was a known violent sexual predator with felony warrants out of New York.

This past weekend, there were six homicides, including the deaths of Jackson and Wynn in less than 36 hours. Cleveland police are asking anyone with information about these crimes to contact the department.