Survivors of Gun Violence Gather to Share Stories, Search for Solutions, and Seek Compensation

By Eddie Burkhalter, Appleseed Researcher

Aswad Thomas, vice president of Alliance for Safety and Justice and national director at Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice, speaking at Saturday’s event.

Montgomery – Alabama Appleseed took part in the “Right to Heal: Access to Victim Compensation” event held recently at The Sanctuary at the Jubilee Center in Montgomery, where a room full of attendees learned about the state’s crime victim compensation program and told stories about their own struggles, and successes, in getting that critical aid. 

Aieda Harris, whose son, Edward Reeves, was killed in 2017, described the devastating impact her son’s death had on her and her family. 

“We didn’t have anybody to stand up for us,” Harris said. Her young grandson needed counseling to help cope with his father’s death, but received none, she said. 

Still others described good experiences with Alabama’s crime victim compensation program, including Elizabeth Hall, who said after her grandson’s death her family was later reimbursed by the program for the funeral expenses. 

Deanthony Vickers Sr., whose 14-year-old son, Deanthony Vickers Jr., was shot and killed in Montgomery in 2022, said Alabama’s program took care of the funeral expenses and sent a letter of condolence, for which his family was grateful. 

Seated across the room while Mr. Vickers Sr. spoke was Everette Johnson, who was appointed as the executive director of the Alabama Crime Victims Compensation Commission in April 2023. Several in attendance at Saturday’s event noted positive changes in the state’s program since his appointment. Johnson made it a goal of his to reduce the backlog of applicants to the program, some of whom had been waiting for more than a year to learn whether they’d receive compensation. 

Mr. Johnson listened closely to the speakers as they told of their own experiences coping with the aftermath of the death of loved ones and navigating the process of getting that aid. 

Callie Greer, Appleseed’s community navigator, near the start of the event spoke of her own son, Mercury Colley, who died just before he was to turn 21. 

“My son was shot and died from those gunshot wounds about two blocks over,” Ms. Greer said. 

Ms. Greer and Elliot Spillers, advocacy director for Appleseed, were among the thousands who traveled to Washington D.C. in September 2024 for the Crime Survivors Speak March on Washington, including 10 Alabamians impacted by violence here. 

Accessing compensation after becoming the victim of a crime is even more difficult for many in the Hispanic community, explained Veronica Ayala, community organizer for Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice. Many in her community do not report when they’ve been victims of crime for fear about their immigration status, and the language barrier itself can make applying for the aid difficult even if they report being the victim of a crime. 

“For us, as immigrants, we don’t know this program exists, or we don’t have access to it,” Ayala said through an interpreter. 

Aswad Thomas, vice president of Alliance for Safety and Justice and national director at Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice, spoke of his own experience as the victim of gun violence. 

“I was shot twice in my back leaving a corner store in my neighborhood,” Thomas said, explaining that the shooting ended his professional basketball career and spurred his work to help victims of crime. 

“I was prepared for the physical challenges,” Mr. Thomas said of the shooting, but he wasn’t equipped for the psychological impacts the shooting had on him. His father and a brother are also both victims of shootings, and neither received support from services that could have helped them, he said. 

Mr. Thomas said the physician who was performing the surgery to remove a bullet from his body was the same doctor who had treated the young man who shot Mr. Thomas after his own shooting. 

“What would it look like had he got those resources?” Mr. Thomas asked about the young man who shot him. “Maybe I wouldn’t have gotten shot.” 

Appleseed was joined in Saturday’s event by Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice, the City of Montgomery’s Office of Violence Prevention, Peacemakers Community Victim Response Team, Freedom Farm Azul, Family Guidance Center of Alabama, MAAVIS and Faith in Action Alabama.