Roger and Carmen Elliott

PALMDALE, Calif. —On Wednesday, Sept. 1 at the home of grandparents Roger “Pudgy” Elliott and his wife Carmen, the family and friends of murder victim Ricky Elliott were supported by local community activists and clergymen to protest the recent violence that has taken the lives of young people within the Antelope Valley.

Ricky Elliott, who was 24-years-old, was gunned down in front of his grandparents’ home while sitting in his car. The drive-by shooter was in a white van. Elliott was hit by one fatal shot, while a passenger, who survived was hit three times.

“We, as a people, have to stop this madness. Our kids have only one of two choices—join a gang or become a victim of a gang,” said Pharaoh Mitchell, president of The Community Action League (TCAL). “This form of genocide against our people must stop. We, as community leaders, have assembled together in order to stop this senseless violence in our community.”

In conjunction with the Help Establish Learning Peace Economics Righteousness H.E.L.P.E.R. Foundation’s executive director, Ansar “Stan” Muhammad and several other community leaders, Elliott’s family hopes to see a massive transformation within the community.

Muhammad plans to bring H.E.L.P.E.R. Foundation, a self-improvement and intervention program, to the valley with the goal of providing young people with better resources and mentorship.

“We are calling for a citywide cease-fire. We are going to be creating a grass roots movement here in the Antelope Valley that is going to address the needs of our young people,” he said. “We are going to be providing intervention and prevention services. We know that suppression works to a degree, but we cannot arrest our way out of this problem … This was not a drive-by shooting. This was an assassination on Ricky Elliott.”

Elliott was on his way to graduate from bar tending school this week and preparing to be a father.

His girlfriend Kemona Pruitt is eight months pregnant with a girl. She told the press on Wednesday, with tears falling down her cheeks, that the murder of her boyfriend is especially difficult because her child will never know her father.

“To the people that took my grandson: It don’t make me none if you get arrested or not.

Vengeance is mine. Not me, the Lord,” Elliott’s grandfather proclaimed.

He said the problem with youth today is that so many fathers are not in the lives of their children. He suggested that if more dads began to raise their children again, more of society’s issues would be resolved.

Standing in front of a line of young men dressed in black, with arms crossed, Junaal Hunter, a friend and brother of Elliott held back tears of grief and spoke of his slain hero and comrade.
“Ricky Elliott was a brother to each and every one of us, a father to most, a friend to everybody. I want to let grandfather and grandmother know that you raised a hell of a man. He touched everybody out here … Everyone here has sincere love for Ricky, because he was a real person, solid; no questions about it. I miss my brother. Ricky is not just another African American who lost his life out here. He is an icon and a legend. He means something to us. He’s still touching us.”

Muhammad and the league of community members are asking local city officials and law officials to partner with them to invest in the ideas and programs TCAL and H.E.L.P.E.R. are offering. He also said the young people the group are training will develop the skills to communicate with those in the streets.

“We will begin to train these young men on how to develop a license to operate,” Muhammad commented, explaining the method the group plans to use to reach out to gang members and other lost youth. “It takes a special type of person to communicate with a man who has lost his mind. And apparently the one who (did) the assassination was a man who lost his mind.”
He referred to the violence as part of a mental problem, insanity.

Despite the grief the family and friends are experiencing, they are asking the community not retaliate in a violent way; instead, join forces and stop the violence.

According to family members, Elliott was not affiliated with a gang.

TCAL and H.E.L.P.E.R. meetings will begin soon. For more information, contact Muhammad at www.helperfoundation.org or call (310) 665-9730.