Daniel Washington in his Valencia Park Pop Warner football uniform at age 9 and on Thanksgiving at age 18. \/ Photos courtesy of Penny Ovuede<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\nShe remembered her son, Daniel, as a smart and curious kid who channeled his energies in the wrong ways, or at least the ways that made sense to him at the time. He wanted to own his own business \u2014 others thought he might have made a good lawyer \u2014 but he was pessimistic about his own prospects in San Diego at age 18. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nDaniel made plans to move to Atlanta, his mother said, but he was shot on March 12, 1994, and died four days later. Daniel was one of several people killed near Lincoln Park that spring, provoking a candlelight vigil and march. \u201cNo more violence,\u201d Walter Kudumu, a longtime activist, was quoted in the Union-Tribune at the time. \u201cYou\u2019re our younger brothers, you\u2019re our blood, you\u2019re our flesh.\u201d <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nPenny wasn\u2019t willing to wait for change. Instead, she did what Daniel could never do.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nShe left San Diego \u2014 not because she feared for her own life but because she feared speaking one day with the murderer and not knowing it. The case is still open and those who knew him wonder to this day whether he was set up or killed accidentally. She packed up the family and hit the road in Daniel\u2019s car.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cIt still had the bullet holes in it,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nState assistance would have helped, but Penny was grieving and couldn\u2019t bring herself to fill out the application, believing she\u2019d just get denied in the end because of <\/span>Daniel\u2019s affiliation with a gang. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nHe was laid to rest in Mount Hope Cemetery. <\/span>The cost of the headstone alone would take the family years to pay off.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nLaila Aziz, Daniel\u2019s girlfriend at the time, is still bothered that Penny couldn\u2019t get support through official channels. Through her work now at Pillars of the Community, Aziz encourages others to view public safety through the lens of a wide range of societal failures that include poverty and education, and consider that the line between victim and perpetrator is blurry.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cTheir trauma is just as deep as the victims of violence,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen you\u2019re on the victim\u2019s end, it\u2019s hard to see that.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nThe number of resources available to crime victims has grown since Daniel\u2019s death. And so has the network of support.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nA few weeks ago, I stopped by a luncheon for crime victims in City Heights, where a dozen or so families socialized and raffled off prizes. One of the organizers, Elizabeth Mu\u00f1oz, started a trauma care institute <\/span>following the death of her son<\/span><\/a>. It provides counseling, helps with funeral preparations and acts as a liaison between families and law enforcement.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nIn addition to the state victim compensation fund, the local district attorney\u2019s office is the largest provider of <\/span>crime victim services<\/span><\/a> in the county. It established an emergency relief fund in 2005 and allocates millions of dollars through grants every year.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nAziz told me that she noticed crime victims voicing support for harsher punishments in political campaigns about two decades ago as talk of reform was heating up. \u201cBut at the same time, I would never disrespect or demean a mother who\u2019s lost their child to violence,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s better to do the work and prevent harm over the long term.\u201d <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nMu\u00f1oz shares the same goal. Her partnership with law enforcement, she said, is an opportunity to bend the ear of prosecutors while lobbying policy makers for reforms.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nHer life was <\/span>turned upside down<\/span><\/a> when her son died. But she also knows that people convicted of crimes will leave their own homes broken. No one wins in that case. She seeks justice but doesn\u2019t want the people who end up in prison hurting anyone else, inside or out.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cHaving compassion in moments of despair is hard,\u201d she said. \u201cBut we don\u2019t want the cycle to continue.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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