HAMPTON, Va. - Four months after her son was shot and killed, a local mother shared her story at a discussion about curbing gun violence.
Dr. Sherri Watson joined police, clergy and other speakers, like Rep. Bobby Scott (D) and Hampton Commonwealth's Attorney Anton Bell, on Saturday.
“We were standing, waiting for my son’s body to be lifted off the ground onto the gurney and onto the truck that night…when my whole world took a major turn," she told the rest of the discussion panel and an audience of around 30 at Bethel AME Church.
Watson says she saw her son, 26-year-old De'Quan Studwell, shot and killed on August 30 outside their Buckroe-area home.
She spoke with News 3 the next month and has since started an organization to support families grieving loved ones lost to gun violence called P.U.S.H. for Dada — named for her son's nickname.
This Gun Violence Panel was the fourth in Hampton Roads since being organized by the area United Church of Christ and African Methodist Episcopal (AME) churches in the wake of the November 2022 mass shooting inside a Chesapeake Walmart.
Several panels have already been held, including one in Newport News last summer.
Organizer Michael Jones, an Associate Minister for Union United Church of Christ in Norfolk, tells News 3 this panel was focused on programs that have shown to keep young people from pulling the trigger.
He named Hampton's Operation Ceasefire, Victim Services and the Junior Commonwealth's Attorney Program (JCAP) as examples.
“They have measures in place where, there is a shooting or there is a homicide, that the community and the city gathers together to provide resources to the families so the gun violence doesn’t continue, based on the victim wanting to retaliate," said Jones.
Saturday's discussion went from 9 a.m. to noon. Jones says he expects three or four additional panels in 2024 before organizers move into the 'direct action' phase of their efforts.
