‘Never forget his name’: Mother of 8-year-old boy fatally shot in North York vows to fight for justice for her son

Marcell Wilson, a spokesperson for the family of Jahvai Roy, speaks on the shot the family is experiencing and what needs to be done against gun violence.

The mother of an eight-year-old boy killed by a stray bullet over the weekend at his North York home says her son’s tragic death will not be in vain, that she’ll fight for justice for him.

“Remember his name!!! Never forget his name!!,” Holly Roy wrote in a social media post.

On Monday, JahVai Roy’s mom, who wants her child’s body to be returned to a First Nation on Manitoulin Island, shared new pictures and a video of her late son on social media with the caption:

“Rest in power my beautiful baby boy. I will love you forever and miss you always.”

Early Saturday morning, JahVai was laying in bed with his mother inside their apartment at 15 Martha Eaton Way, near Trethewey Drive, when gunshots rang out, striking the boy, who was pronounced dead in hospital a short time later. The shooter or shooters remain at-large.

“My baby was preparing for one of his best friend’s birthday celebration. He was so excited he couldn’t sleep!,” Roy wrote in a Facebook post.

She went on to say that while they were laying in bed they heard what appeared to be gunshots.

“My baby sat up. The last look he gave me was fear! Then another three shots and I felt glass hit my face. I went to grab my son to put him on the floor and he was lifeless! It was instant,” she shared.

“His blood sprayed all over me. I couldn’t even look at him. I knew where the bullet went! I ran with my son’s lifeless body to my doorway. The devastation my kids witnessed. There was nothing I can do but scream and hold his lifeless little body. I cannot get that image out of my head. I cannot unwelcome everything in that moment. I cannot unsee and feel my baby’s blood on me.”

• ‘Fed up with the gun violence’: Toronto police continue to search for suspects in fatal shooting of 8-year-old boy in North York

Candlelight vigil for JahVai, rally against gun violence happening this week

A candlelight vigil for JahVai will be held on Thursday from 5 to 8 p.m. outside of the family’s home at 15 Martha Eaton Way.

Attendees are asked to bring candles, flowers, photos, and any words or memories they’d like to share.

Local policitians, city officials, and Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw will also be in attandance.

It should also be noted that a community town hall on gun violence in Youth South-Weston that was originally scheduled for October has been pushed up to September.

A rally against gun violence has also been organized on Friday from 10 a.m. to noon outside Toronto City Hall at 100 Queen St. W.

Victim was a ‘happy little guy, a genuinely good kid,’ says family rep

Family spokesperson Marcell Wilson, who is the founder and president of the One by One Movement, is remembering JahVai as a “happy little guy, a genuinely a good kid.”

Just two years ago, then six-year-old JahVai was featured in an anti-bullying video by Wilson’s organization, where he urged people to “be nice.”

“We’re hoping this can become a beacon. … This is finally the point where people are fed up and have had enough,” said the former gang member, who said that JahVai’s death should spark change.

Wilson, however, is also urging those angered by this fatal shooting to not pick up a gun in revenge.

“I know it feels like you’re getting retribution but you’re becoming the thing you want to stop. Don’t become what they are,” he said, adding that isn’t what JahVai would have wanted.

A crowdfunding campaign created by a family friend said JahVai was an “innocent child who was taken from this world far too soon” … killed in a “senseless act of violence.”

“Despite every parent’s instinct to keep their children safe at home, that sanctuary was shattered in an instant,” the page’s creator, Charlene Small, wrote.

“JahVai was a joyful, bright, and loving little boy. His life, full of promise and potential, was stolen in a moment no family should ever have to endure. The grief his loved ones now carry is beyond words.”

Small went on to say that as the investigation continues, the community must ”come together and lift up this grieving family. … Let us honor (sic) JahVai by standing against violence and showing his family that they are not alone in this fight for justice and healing,”

Community leaders say youth need opportunities

Speaking with CP24 late Monday afternoon, Destin Bujang, who co-founded and serves as the executive director of the Black Creek Youth Initiative (BCYI), said if feels like there’s an “endless cycle of violence” in the community.

“It doesn’t stop. It is back-to-back. … (A lot of young people) are scared now. They don’t want to come out. They don’t want to do anything. If you can be caught by a bullet in your house – think about just going down to the grocery store, think about going to get a coffee from Tim Horton’s, think about us standing here right now,” he told CP24’s Steve Ryan.

“I do feel for the family. I cannot imagine what they’re going through right now, and my heart, the community’s heart goes out to the family. We are short of words. We don’t know what to say.”

Bujang said his organization works with young people in the Black Creek community, where this weekend’s fatal shooting occurred, helping them navigate challenges and traumatic situations, but also providing them with mentorship and connecting them to different resources and a spectrum of programs, which in turn can help “create a safe and inclusive space for them.”

“We try to find unorthodox ways to do counselling. It might be taking them out for coffee on their birthday, taking them out to a fancy restaurant, just to help change their environment. We’re not scared to have those conversations because they have seen it before. They’re living it.”

With funding from the city, BCYI also does work around prevention and intervention, Bujang noted.

On Monday evening, Shaneeza Nazseer Ally, the executive director of the For Youth Initiative, said there are “no words that can justify a loss like this.”

“My heart goes out to this family and to all families that have to live in fear,” she said.

Ally, who has an eight-year-old son, said the gun violence that is being seen in Toronto is a sign of “what the deeper issues are.”

“(It) is like the tip of the iceberg and we need swift and corrective action, the political will to create jobs and paid training opportunities for families and young people to access stable and meaningful employment,” she said, adding that poverty makes society less safe.

Ally said young people are often forced to make tough choices that result in missing out on opportunities to support their families.

“That shouldn’t be a choice that young people have to make,” she said, adding the various programs they offer at For Youth Initiative are seen as “prevention and intervention measures.”

Young people, she added, shouldn’t feel like they have no other choice but to turn to crime.

Investigation is ongoing

Toronto police, meanwhile, have made an appeal for witnesses and information, but have yet to release as details about possible suspects.

Anyone with further information is asked to contact the homicide squad at 416-808-7400 or Crime Stoppers anonymously.

With files from CTV News Toronto’s Jon Woodward