BELOIT, Wis. (WTVO) — A 19-year-old was shot and killed in the parking lot of Beloit Memorial High School on Saturday.
The family spoke to Eyewitness News less than two months ago after 17-year-old Byron Broomfield was killed, and the family is now mourning the loss of 19-year-old Jion Broomfield. They said that enough is enough and are pleading with people to start talking.
“We have not gotten over the first one and here we are again, with the non-sense violence in a public place,” said Birdia McAlister, Byron and Jion’s aunt.
McAlister said that she is sad, angry and fed up.
“Because two young men have lost their lives,” McAlister said. “They didn’t have the opportunity to fulfill everything that they were destined to do.”
McAlister has lost two nephews to gun violence in less than two months. Seventeen-year-old Byron was killed in December, and she said that her 19-year-old nephew Jion was the victim killed Saturday night outside of Beloit Memorial High School.
“That their today was yesterday, they have no today, they have no tomorrow,” McAlister said. “They have no future.”
Nearly 40 people witnessed the shooting, according to the Beloit Police Department. McAlister is now pleading with them to come forward with information.
“He had to know them,” she said. “He was your classmate, how can you not tell?”
Elena Casique Spade and Crystal Williams are parents of Beloit Memorial High School students.
“Everybody in Beloit knows everybody,” Spade said.
“Oh yeah that is true,” Williams added. “Something happens, somebody knows.”
Williams’ son was playing in the basketball game at the school when the shooting happened.
“They’re not going to pass any tests if they’re worried that the guy next to them has a gun,” Williams said.
“At any moment, any hour of the day, any class period something bad could happen,” Spade added.
McAlister agrees and said that more needs to be done, and that requires everyone to help.
“It’s about saving our children,” McAlister said. “It’s us crying today, but it could be you tomorrow, but we don’t want you to be that way. We want us to stop it now.”
McAlister and her family asked the community to join together for a vigil that happened outside of the high school on Sunday. Any information about who killed Jion should be given to the Beloit Police Department, (608) 364-6800.