Auburn Child Vandal Victims Need Your Help

There is no greater warrior than a mother protecting her child.

After a series of disturbing behavior, Sahrye Barnes told some neighbor boys they could no longer play with her 7-year-old son, Braylen. The yelling and cussing at the neighborhood’s parents, stealing cigarettes, and graffitied buildings were bad enough, but when they started throwing rocks at their house and stealing her son’s toys, the mother, understandably, wasn’t comfortable with her son playing with these children.

On July 4th, Sahrye and her husband, Jery, went to his brother’s wedding out of state, in which he was the best man. They were excited to get away, and it would be the first time the family would meet their 8-month-old daughter, Mavyn. Taking advantage of the family’s vacation, six children ranging from ages 8-12, decided to “get back” at the “snitches” by spending a few days trashing their house. Trashing is an understatement...

These kids:

• Slashed all the mattresses, couches, pillows, and other soft materials.

• Took every piece of clothing, including the baby’s clothes, and peed and pooped on all of them.

• Grabbed all the diapers from a brand-new Costco box and dumped them in a tub of water.

• Threw $800 of baby formula and baby food around the kitchen, leaving nothing for Mavyn to fill her belly coming home.

• Ate or flung all the food in the house so they’d have nothing to eat, wasting about $2,000 of groceries.

• Shattered almost every dish, picture, appliance, and electronic device.

• Stole Braylen’s X-Box he got for his birthday as payback.

• Found the key to the small gun safe and took the LOADED GUN, which the kids still have, posing a major safety issue for the whole family.

When the landlord approached the house of some of these vandals and questioned their dad about his knowledge of what his kids had done, and asked for the X-Box and gun back, the dad replied, “Fuck you bitch. Get out of my doorway! You’re not getting shit back!” #fatheroftheyear

A bed frame or table wasn’t left unbroken. The very little that they had was gone overnight- all because a bunch of kids were mad that they couldn’t play with their “friend” anymore. Apparently, smearing poop on the baby’s onesies and leaving her starving satisfied their rage.

These are two hardworking parents trying to work full-time and care for their young children. They are loving, kind, and thoughtful people living paycheck to paycheck. They hardly had anything. Now, the little that they did have is gone, all while attempting to keep their children safe through the devastation.

There is no insurance to help cover the costs of these losses.

All funds raised will go directly to helping the family rebuild. They need beds, food, furniture, new clothes, kitchen necessities, formula, baby stuff, and anything else you can think of that you would need if you lost everything today. They would also like to move, but don’t have money to get into a new place.

If you would like to assist with their financial burden, any donation would be greatly appreciated.

On behalf of Jery and Sahrye, and their closest friends and family, I appreciate the outpouring of love, prayers, and support. Through this tragedy, I am reminded that though there may be bad people in the world, most people are good and want to see others succeed. I am grateful for the kindness and compassion the community has expressed in uplifting this young family in their time of need.