The McKinley case got a lot of attention. But young victims of violence are not rare

Earlier this month, Sierra's family and friends held one for the 17-year-old under the same circumstances.

Sierra, who was killed Jan. 25 in a double shooting on Koons Avenue, was a junior at Riverside High School.

"I don't like to see anyone hurt, but why my child, you know?" said her mother, Alicia Quigley. "She's not in the streets."

Sierra was one of four people younger than 18 who were wounded or killed in Buffalo in January.

Here, like everywhere else, crime victims come in all ages. In fact, it isn't unusual for them to be too young to vote.

Occasionally, like after the violence outside McKinley High School earlier this month, high-profile incidents with young victims grab the attention of the community. Often, though, the incidents don't get much notice at all.

On the same day a 14-year-old was stabbed at McKinley, for instance, a 16-year-old boy was stabbed during a fight downtown near Niagara Square about 15 minutes earlier.

The annual number of shooting victims in Buffalo who are younger than 18 has grown from 13 to 23 over the last three years, according to Buffalo Police Department data.

Over the last six years, about 7% of all people shot in Buffalo have been younger than 18, according to department data.

Violence involving youths is not a problem specific to Western New York, nor is violence that occurs in schools. According to a 2019 survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of nearly 14,000 students across the country, more than 7% of high school students had been threatened or injured with a weapon on school grounds at least once in the prior 12 months. The survey also found that nearly 9% of high school students had not gone to school at least one day during the prior 30 days because either they felt they would be unsafe at school or on their way to or from school.

In December, Buffalo's shooting victims included two 15-year-olds and two 17-year-olds.

The four juveniles shot in January were among 17 victims wounded or killed in gun violence in Buffalo that month.

From the start of the month through Wednesday, three more juveniles were shot in the city, including the 13-year-old grazed by a bullet in the McKinley incident.

Sierra and her 20-year-old boyfriend were shot around 2:30 p.m. Jan. 25 in a house on Koons, just south of Sycamore Street, her family said.

Quigley said her daughter was a blue belt in taekwondo and a member of a dance group. She helped take care of her 2-year-old nephew and stood up for bullied friends, even in grammar school. Her parents kept her involved in activities to keep her busy and Sierra was spoiled, her parents said. She could be stubborn at times.

"Sierra was something else," her mother said.

Sierra's family said they were told by law enforcement that her boyfriend had some kind of "beef" going that may have started over social media.

Police have charged two people in the double shooting – Vincent Manirakiza, 19, and Martin Norris, 15.

The 14-year-old boy beaten and stabbed outside McKinley remains in critical condition at Oishei Children's Hospital.

The level of violence involving youths should be considered a crisis, and parents are concerned about keeping their children safe, said Kareema Morris of Bury the Violence, a local group that assists families of missing children and others who've suffered because of violence.

"We have to be honest about the past as well as the present conditions in our community, and realize that our fight is not amongst ourselves," Morris said in an email. "I'm encouraging community members to have candid conversations with the youth they are connected to in an effort to change the dynamics of retaliatory actions and behaviors."

Buffalo Deputy Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia – nominated last week to be commissioner – acknowledged recent crimes involving young people have been getting more attention from the public.

Some of the violence among young people stems, in part, from the pandemic's limiting of things for them to do, Gramaglia said.

"I think what's been going on over the past two years has significantly impacted the mental health of kids," he said.

Rayshawn Bennett, Sierra's father, said he has friends who have lost their children, and he has taken Sierra to funerals of girls who were killed at 17 or 18.

It's the kind of scene that has become all too familiar, he said.

Sierra had a large extended family, with many aunts, uncles and cousins.

"People are really hurting," her father said.

Bennett said he often had conversations, sometimes long ones, with his daughter after he got off work. Those chats are gone. He won't see his daughter go to prom. He was going to buy her a car this year and teach her how to drive.

The family has received "overwhelming" support in the wake of Sierra's slaying, with her loss worsened because it was "senseless," Bennett said.

"I will never get to see her get married, never see her have children," he said. "It almost feels to me that I don't even have a future."