A year after the shooting death of her son Jamar Hawkins, Wynona Hawkins-Harper, of Penn Hills, is still searching for justice and closure. Recently, on Nov. 14, Hawkins-Harper, along with her granddaughters, Kymari King and Kamylle King, and their mother Kyra King, held a memorial at his Homewood Cemetery plot to celebrate their lost loved one’s memory.
“It has been very tough for me to even make it some days due to the fact that he is not present; he was a major part of my life. This past year has been a growing and learning experience due to the fact that this pain is just so great in my heart. I never knew how ugly people were in their hearts and soul towards one another,” Hawkins-Harper said of the year she’s been through since her son’s passing. “It’s hard to see his kids suffer; missing their dad. But we hold on as a family to make it through.”
Hawkins, then 31, was killed Nov. 13, 2013 near the intersection of Saltsburg and Leechburg Roads, in Penn Hills, after an altercation that took place at a nearby grocery store. According to Hawkins-Harper and other reports, Hawkins, who had stopped at the Rodi Road Giant Eagle after work with his girlfriend and half-brother, got into a verbal altercation with another male. The male then went to his truck and waited for Hawkins to exit the store. Once Hawkins left, the truck followed the vehicle he was in and shot him minutes later while he was at a stoplight. His girlfriend drove him to UPMC East in Monroeville where he later died.
Now, a year later, no one has been charged with his death.
During the memorial, Hawkins’ daughters Kymari, 9, and Kamylle, 5, spoke about how they miss their father. Kymari even read a poem she wrote entitled, “I Have A Dream Too.” One of the lines read, “I have a dream too, that one day this nation will stop shooting and start loving.”
Hawkins-Harper said she calls Allegheny County police every other week for updates. Although there have been problems with the lead detective, she said the other officers have been accommodating.
While there have been no arrests or charges in her son’s death, Hawkins-Harper said the police have told her that they suspect there were three men in the vehicle that night and that the one who is believed to have gotten into the argument with her son is in the federal penitentiary for unrelated charges. She said they are still searching for the other two.
A call was made to the Allegheny County Police for an official update, but the call was not returned as of this publication’s deadline.
As for information from Hawkins’ girlfriend and his half brother, Hawkins-Harper said they have yet to come forward.
“Neither one of them came forward, but you say you love your brother, you say you love your man. My God,” she said. “I don’t want no one to love me like that; (people) who won’t stand up for me. And I ain’t seen neither one of them since he was killed.”
Hawkins-Harper said one of the hardest parts of the whole ordeal is, as a mother, having to sit back and wait for justice.
When asked what she would say to her son’s killer, she said in tears, “You took my son’s life because you’re broken inside your soul and your mother is broken in her soul; because anytime you sit back and watch our children kill each other you need help. The day you took my son I had to learn to forgive you because I can’t allow you to hold my heart and soul in bondage. I pray to God they catch you, put you in jail and that you get the rehabilitation that this system is designed to do because you are a sick young man.”
Hawkins-Harper said she also prays for the mother of her son’s killer. “I pray for his mother; that she will find it in her heart to do the right thing and turn her son in so that he will not hurt anyone else. It starts with us (as mothers). We have to stop this vicious cycle among our children.”
Since her son’s death, Hawkins-Harper has become an advocate in speaking out against the senseless Black-on-Black violence. She works with Mothers With Voices, an organization of mothers who have been impacted by violence and who are dedicated to making a difference in society.
“This stuff in these street has got to stop. We can’t blame it on society. We can’t blame it on the police because we got two people out here fighting for us and that’s Mayor Bill Peduto and the new chief. And every police officer is not wrong; we have some great people fighting for us. We have to join them in the fight.” She also said, “I have never seen Black people so broke down in my life. (Especially) when you’re sitting back watching your kids killing kids and then say, ‘it’s the police’s fault.’ No, how about you saying, ‘I’m wrong and let me correct my behavior as a parent and go out here and be part of the solution.’ Y’all are out here supporting your kids in death.”
Hawkins-Harper said things in the Black community will not get fixed until members of the community work, and work together, to fix years worth of “mess.”
To celebrate her son’s memory, Hawkins-Harper said she is working with the NAACP Penn Hills branch to put together a program.
