The father and grandmother of Davell Gardner Jr., a one-year-old boy who was shot and killed in New York City Sunday night, spoke out against their community’s violence and the hypocrisy of the Black Lives Matter movement on Fox News’ “Hannity” Monday night.
Gardner Jr. was shot in the stomach while sitting in his stroller during a barbecue near a playground in Brooklyn Sunday night. In an emotional interview with Lawrence Jones, Gardner Jr.’s father, Davell Gardner Sr., said that every day his community is getting less safe, and elected officials have done nothing to combat the increased violence.
“The community’s just getting worse and worse… Nobody’s trying to make a change. And it’s sad to say that like every day is just worse. You don’t know if you won’t live to see the next day.”
Gardner Sr. recalled the harrowing experience finding out about his son’s shooting and leading up to his son’s death. Once he called Gardner Jr.’s mother, she revealed the heartbreaking news that Gardner Jr. had been shot. He died within a few hours.
.@seanhannity and @LawrenceBJones3 spoke to the parents of one-year-old Davell Gardner Jr. who was shot and killed in NYC:
"Everybody talk about 'Black Lives Matter.' What about baby lives?.. You took an innocent child from a mother and a father…" pic.twitter.com/cANXXgHRB0
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) July 14, 2020
Since the start of the protests and social unrest broke out following the death of George Floyd in late May, record-breaking rates of violence in major cities across America – most recently New York City, Chicago, and Atlanta – have resulted. Hundreds have been shot and many killed in recent weeks. Chicago has experienced its deadliest day and weekend in history. Many victims of such violence have been children, including both a one-year-old and three-year-old boy in Chicago late last month.
Gardner Jr.’s father said, based on how people have conducted themselves recently, nobody cares about children’s lives.
“Anybody who said that they are, they’re just lying because if you know information that needs to be said… I need this information, because these guys just took my son’s life for what? He didn’t do nothing to nobody.”
The conversation to combat violence and other social issues in the wake of the racial tension of the last two months has largely focused on the Black Lives Matter movement and the call to abolish or defund city police departments.
New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio used the opportunity to minimize the police’s role in stopping crimes.
“It means the whole community has to be involved. It’s never just about police. It has to be community and police together.”
The child’s grandmother, Samantha Gardner, however, criticized members of the movement for their feigned support of actual black lives.
“For the cowards that it is, you should be ashamed of yourself, because everybody talks about Black Lives Matter. What about baby lives? What about teenager lives?” she said. “You took an innocent child from a mother and a father, as well as the grand families…He cannot come back, he cannot wake back up. He was an innocent little baby, and he’s gone forever.”
Gardner Jr. was only two months from turning two years old.
“You took my son’s life. I can’t get that back. I can’t hold him no more. I can’t hear him call me daddy no more. I can’t kiss him no more. I can’t play with him no more. I can’t do nothing with him no more. I’ve got to put my son on the ground now.”