WELLSTON, MO (KTVI/CNN) - On the Facebook video, 6-year-old Jeffrey Laney makes a plea to viewers:
“...Me and my mama, we live in St. Louis, and I’m coming to tell you all a lot of people...people need to stop killing each other around here because this is just making me feel bad. And all these people out here that are killing each other, we need to stop this, because that ain’t going to get them nowhere, just end up locked up, I mean getting their but kicked or, they’re going to end up in jail.”
After Jeffrey’s mom, Leanndra Cheatham posted the video of her son’s anguish over crime, it struck a nerve. The kindergartner’s words have been viewed more than 50,000 times on Facebook. His mother heard from one young man who agreed to put down his gun after watching.
“And he told me, ‘I was riding, and I scrolled through Facebook and I watched your son’s video to the end, and it prevented me from doing something really stupid,’ and that there alone touched me and I hope he touched plenty more people, I’m tired of seeing mothers bury their child. It hurts.”
In an interview, Jeffrey said, “People need to read a Bible right now. They need to be reading Bibles, not out killing each other,”
Jeffrey’s mom hopes anyone watching the video will see just how much of an emotional strain crime is putting on innocent children and will cause grown-ups to think before acting.
“They need to value life more. We need to watch what we do around these little ones,” Leanndra Cheatham said. “And when you go to shoot at a vehicle, retaliation, think of all those negative things, think about him. Think about how he feels.”
Or, as her son puts it, “Be a grown man, and just act good.”
There were 10 shootings in St. Louis on Sunday alone. Four people were killed and eight others were injured.
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