DaVonte Friedman
Baltimore, MD — DaVonte Friedman, an 18-year old African-American teen who gave a powerful presentation to the Baltimore City Council last year in support of anti-violence initiatives, has become a victim of violence himself when he was fatally gunned down in East Baltimore this past Saturday.“My little brother just turned 18 on November 26th and died on December 1st,” his brother, Tyrone Friedman, said. “He wanted to see more done in the community for himself and other kids like him.”
DaVonte and another 18-year-old man were murdered in a triple shooting on Brentwood Avenue in the Barclay neighborhood.
“I lost a piece of me. I will never be able to see him again, never hear him laugh,” his brother said.
Tyrone admitted that his brother had previous run-ins with the law. Court records confirmed that he has an arrest history that was remanded to juvenile court. But he noted that his brother is “trying to change his life. He got a job — everything.”
Last year, he joined a local organization called Community Law In Action where he participated in a summer leadership program. Raekwon Conaway, one of the program managers of CLIA, shared a photo of DaVonte while he was speaking in front of several members of the Baltimore City Council about youth violence.
“Throughout the entire day, DaVonte was so nervous about the presentation, but when we got to City Hall, he knocked it out the park!” Conway wrote on Facebook.
Councilman Zeke Cohen said he remembers how DaVonte spoke that day. “Ironically, he was speaking to us about preventing violence,” he said. He expressed his sympathy for the family’s loss.
With DaVonte’s murder, Baltimore surpasses 300 murder incidents this year. Just within the first four days of December, there have been six killings, including DaVonte’s.
“He wanted to do so much. He had so much in his future that he wanted to accomplish that he never got to do,” said his brother, who noted he was accepted into several colleges.
There were no arrests made yet in connection to the incident.