Community continues Ron Gee’s anti-violence legacy
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Friends who knew Ron Gee say what he stood for — anti-gun violence — won’t stop with his death.
A vigil for the Indianapolis activist will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at New Direction Church, East Campus, at 530 E. 38th St.
Robert Booker says he knew Gee for 30 years. They’d collaborated together on an event with Gee’s nonviolent organization, Cease Fire Indy. “It’s not going to end. He has a lot of people that supported and backed him, and they had the same vision he had.”
Gee was a anti-gun activist prominently known in the Black community. His nonprofit aimed to decrease shootings in the city. In one instance, he’d called for a 72-hour cease-fire.
He was found murdered Thursday morning in his blue SUV at the Citgo gas station at 38th Street and Arlington Avenue. He was 39.
Booker said, “His legacy will not be in vain. … I just want to continue to do the work that he has set out to do.”
Kenneth E. Sullivan, a pastor at New Direction Church, knew Gee when he had a restaurant across the street. “It was so unfortunate that he died of the very thing he was trying to prevent and see change. But, we want to continue on and we’ll pick up where he left off.”
Sullivan said Saturday’s vigil will be special. “We’re going to do a balloon release, and ask for silence and prayer over Ron Gee’s … family holding up his legacy. We’ll pray for his children.”
The pastor says funeral plans and arrangements were being planned for next week.