'We need help': Father who lost 3 sons to crime in DC pleads for action
WASHINGTON - A D.C. family that has suffered immense tragedy — losing three sons to violence on the streets of the District, one of whom was gunned down just last week at a Metro station in Northeast — is calling on local leaders to solve the crime crisis plaguing the nation's capital.
A 16-year-old has now been charged in the murder of 14-year-old Avion Evans, who was shot to death on the platform at the Brookland-Catholic University Metro station last Thursday.
But two of Avion’s brothers have also been murdered in D.C. over the past eight years, leaving his family shocked and struggling to cope.
It's hard to wrap your head around: Three brothers from one family, two shot to death, one stabbed.
Two of the murders happened at Metro stations in Northeast. FOX 5 spoke with their father, John Evans, about how he makes sense of the loss his family has suffered.
RELATED: Father of teen killed at Brookland Metro station speaks out after suspect arrested
"I don’t make sense. I have to keep moving on because I’ve still got three kids. I still got grandkids. I still got daughters and sons that still love me, so I have to keep going, regardless. I still have to save them," John Evans said. "I’ve still got two babies. I still got a 16-year-old son that’s going through hell because his younger brother is gone so now I have to...I’m just functioning man...just functioning...but I definitely want some justice."
FOX 5 also asked Mayor Muriel Bowser about this family's unimaginable suffering.
"I’m not going to talk about their concerns with you. I’ll talk to them about it because obviously, that’s troubling to us," she said. If we have a family that has had that much loss and probably has a lot more things for us to understand about them."
Evans says he believes the government needs to do more to protect the city's young people.
"I mean how is it not a government problem when it’s a people problem? We have young kids in D.C. that are growing up to be entrepreneurs or trying to be someone and they’re being slaughtered on the way to school or being slaughtered on the way back from school," Evans said.
"I mean I don't understand how that’s not first priority. I thought the kids was the future. I thought the kids were our priority. I know we have other government things going on but we can’t brush what’s going on in the communities now under the rug because we need football teams and basketball teams in D.C." he continued.
RELATED: Teen shot, killed at Brookland Metro station
But Mayor Bowser said there’s more to consider when it comes to crime among youth.
"I wouldn’t jump to the conclusion that it’s the government," Bowser said. "I think as a community when we see young people in trouble it’s... I don’t think and you can just point a finger at the government. You have to look at the community. You have to look at the family's needs and there’s a lot to look at."
The murder of Avion's half-brother John Coleman, happened last May on M Street, Northeast, while he was doing handyman work for a neighbor.
"When he hopped on his bike to go get the tools, seven seconds later, you hear a gunshot. So they shot them off the bike. He had a work vest on, Evans said. "These cowards didn’t even wait for him to get off the bike."
And eight years ago this month, Evans' 15-year-old son Johnny was killed at the Deanwood Metro station during a confrontation with another teenager.
"Johnny was stabbed in the throat," Evans said. "I don’t know brother. We need help. We need help. We need help."
Evans and his wife are going to view their son Avion's body this afternoon. They haven't laid eyes on him since he was shot and killed last Thursday.
