Cleveland father of 3 killed as he attends vigil for his murdered friend

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) - A father of three young children was shot and killed while attending a vigil for his friend, who was also murdered. The deadly shooting happened in the area of Easton Park and Bessemer.

As the loved ones and friends of 26-year-old Kelvin Clark of Cleveland gathered to honor his memory with a picnic and balloon release on Sunday, they also prayed for an end to the senseless gun violence in Cleveland.

Clark died at University Hospitals on May 13th, after he was shot in the head, according to Cleveland Police and his family. The shooting happened as Clark attended a vigil for his friend Dewaun Drake, 29 of Cleveland, who was killed in a drive-by shooting two days earlier.

Kelvin Clark’s sister Chelsea Gresham of Akron told 19 News, that her brother attended a vigil for one of his friends who died just days earlier, and during the vigil an argument escalated into gunfire.

“It needs to stop. But, I feel like it’s never going to stop. These moms are raising knuckleheads. But, I feel like these men need to come together and get the young generation to find things to do, instead of killing each other,” Gresham stated.

As the victim’s mother, sister, cousins and close friends released blue, white and silver balloons to honor Clark’s life, the family tried to keep the mood of the gathering positive, saying Clark would have wanted it that way.

“I don’t want us to be sad, I want it to be like a celebration because my brother loved to have fun,” said Gresham.

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