In Memory of Gerald Watson
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Gerald Watson was a tenth grader at Anacostia High School. Gerald was on a recreation football team and part of a late-night basketball league called “Shoot Hoops Not Bullets.” Gerald would often stay after school to help peers who were dealing with personal loss or grief.
Thursday, December 13, 2018, was another one of those days. Gerald had spent the afternoon after school being there for a friend—being the wonderful, smart, kind young man his mother, Kimberly, raised him to be.
All of this came to an end when two masked attackers confronted Gerald in front of his apartment building in SE DC. He tried to escape by running into an apartment building next to the one in which he lived, making it to inside a stairwell where they shot him 17 times. He died 35 minutes later at the hospital. He was only 15 years old.
The police have no motive. They suspect it was a stupid neighborhood fight over nothing.
Gerald was loved not only by his four siblings, Steniyah (12), Greg (16), Giamari (14) and Steve (10) and his father Gregory Holloway, stepfather, Steve Brice and grandmother, Alberta Pearson but also his entire community. Everyone who was blessed to know Gerald feels a tremendous sense of loss and heartbreak at his tragic and senseless death.
I count myself as one of those people. I was Gerald’s 5th grade math teacher and knew him to be one of the most beautiful souls I have ever met. Gerald was intelligent, a jokester, not afraid to share his feelings or to be vulnerable at an age when many boys try to be “tough.” He could dance like nobody’s business, tear up a football field and make any room burst into laughter.
I also knew Gerald’s mother Kimberly. I taught both Gerald and his older brother Greg and had many, many opportunities to see how Kim would do anything for her children. After Gerald’s passing I called my friend and his 4th grade teacher, Melissa Bryant. Crying she recalled how Kim was “always one of the mothers who did anything for her kids. She worked three jobs but somehow made it to every parent function, every honors ceremony, every game. If her kids said I want to be a football player, Kim would get them lessons. Kim would do anything for her kids.”
The one thing that Kimberly was never able to do, despite all of her efforts, was to move out of the neighborhood that she worried was an unsafe place for her family. In the months leading up to Gerald’s death there were conversations with various agencies to move the Watson/Brice family and immediately following Gerald’s death, DC agency representatives have offered some short term support, but to date no relocation has taken place or been confirmed. There are no available resources to make a lasting move, which means Kim and her children will need to move back into the apartment complex where her loving son was heartlessly murdered.
While nothing will bring Gerald back, we can ease the financial burden that the funeral places on this beautiful family and hopefully raise enough money to move them out of a place that brings them so much pain and fear.
Currently the funeral and burial expense are over $15,000—an amount that is well beyond the family’s financial means.
Additionally, in order to ensure that Kim and her children can move into a safer place, I am trying to raise an additional $15,000 to pay a few months rent and give them a cushion to get back on their feet. Any additional resources raised through the Gofundme account will be immediately dedicated to relocation, moving expenses and supports for long term family safety.
Please consider making a donation in Gerald’s memory. He was always willing to extend kindness, care and consideration for others. He made difficult situations better and brought joy to every corner of a room. Your donation is a recognition of his light, compassion and generous spirit.
Most Recent Coverage on The Washington Post
Thursday, December 13, 2018, was another one of those days. Gerald had spent the afternoon after school being there for a friend—being the wonderful, smart, kind young man his mother, Kimberly, raised him to be.
All of this came to an end when two masked attackers confronted Gerald in front of his apartment building in SE DC. He tried to escape by running into an apartment building next to the one in which he lived, making it to inside a stairwell where they shot him 17 times. He died 35 minutes later at the hospital. He was only 15 years old.
The police have no motive. They suspect it was a stupid neighborhood fight over nothing.
Gerald was loved not only by his four siblings, Steniyah (12), Greg (16), Giamari (14) and Steve (10) and his father Gregory Holloway, stepfather, Steve Brice and grandmother, Alberta Pearson but also his entire community. Everyone who was blessed to know Gerald feels a tremendous sense of loss and heartbreak at his tragic and senseless death.
I count myself as one of those people. I was Gerald’s 5th grade math teacher and knew him to be one of the most beautiful souls I have ever met. Gerald was intelligent, a jokester, not afraid to share his feelings or to be vulnerable at an age when many boys try to be “tough.” He could dance like nobody’s business, tear up a football field and make any room burst into laughter.
I also knew Gerald’s mother Kimberly. I taught both Gerald and his older brother Greg and had many, many opportunities to see how Kim would do anything for her children. After Gerald’s passing I called my friend and his 4th grade teacher, Melissa Bryant. Crying she recalled how Kim was “always one of the mothers who did anything for her kids. She worked three jobs but somehow made it to every parent function, every honors ceremony, every game. If her kids said I want to be a football player, Kim would get them lessons. Kim would do anything for her kids.”
The one thing that Kimberly was never able to do, despite all of her efforts, was to move out of the neighborhood that she worried was an unsafe place for her family. In the months leading up to Gerald’s death there were conversations with various agencies to move the Watson/Brice family and immediately following Gerald’s death, DC agency representatives have offered some short term support, but to date no relocation has taken place or been confirmed. There are no available resources to make a lasting move, which means Kim and her children will need to move back into the apartment complex where her loving son was heartlessly murdered.
While nothing will bring Gerald back, we can ease the financial burden that the funeral places on this beautiful family and hopefully raise enough money to move them out of a place that brings them so much pain and fear.
Currently the funeral and burial expense are over $15,000—an amount that is well beyond the family’s financial means.
Additionally, in order to ensure that Kim and her children can move into a safer place, I am trying to raise an additional $15,000 to pay a few months rent and give them a cushion to get back on their feet. Any additional resources raised through the Gofundme account will be immediately dedicated to relocation, moving expenses and supports for long term family safety.
Please consider making a donation in Gerald’s memory. He was always willing to extend kindness, care and consideration for others. He made difficult situations better and brought joy to every corner of a room. Your donation is a recognition of his light, compassion and generous spirit.
Most Recent Coverage on The Washington Post
Organizer and beneficiary
Amanda Jonas
Organizer
Philadelphia, PA
Kimberly Watson
Beneficiary