On July 4, 11-year-old Davon McNeal stopped at his aunt’s house in Washington, D.C., to pick up a phone charger. Shortly after he stepped out of his family’s car, gunshots rang out. McNeal fell to the ground. His mother thought he was taking cover, but soon realized he had been caught in the crossfire of a gunfight between men he didn’t even know.
He was rushed to a local hospital, where he died.
McNeal’s grandfather, John Ayala, is all too familiar with the reality of violence in America as a member of the D.C. Guardian Angels. But as the tragedy of homicide reached his own family, McNeal expressed sorrow and outrage in an interview.