Victim of Gun Violence Remembered ... on His Birthday

A sister's love.  Syreshia Wimberly brushes away the tears at a vigil in honor of her brother Tyree.

Nearly forty people gathered to wish Tyree Wimberly a Happy Birthday on May 8. They even sang him a song. But Tyree was not there for his family, friends and neighbors. They were gathered outside of Scoobie's Genlemans Club, where Wimberly was gunned down on January 26 while running an errand for his sister. This was no birthday party, but a candlelight vigil at the place where he was killed for refusing to buy a bag of marijuana. A federal warrant has been issued for his alleged killer, Ulysses "Slime" Rodriguez.

It's a rough neighborhood, at the border of Allentown and Bethlehem. Cigarette smoke and the odor of stale beer wafted in the air as Pastor Junito Cruz led everyone in a brief prayer. An Allentown police cruiser was parked nearby, just in case there was trouble. But people were there to remember, to grieve and to love.

Tyree's sister, Syreshia, wiped tears as she remembered her fallen brother on his birthday. Young Quintus Moser, age 6, who sometimes hears gunfire in the night, was visibly upset. "Somebody died here," he lamented. His mother Dawn states her children are unable to play outside. "Once the streetlights come on, they're in," she said, noting that conditions in her West Broad Street neighborhood have deteriorated. "The strip club does not help," she observed. "All it brings is problems."

Allentown Mayor Edwin Pawlowski told neighbors, "We're doing everything we can," adding that this was a "senseless act of violence."

Bethlehem School Director Basilio Bonilla, who helped organize this event, called for the "immediate shutdown of Scoobie's Gentlemans Club" But that's already happened. A fire at Scoobies the very morning of the vigil has forced the club to close for the "foreseeable future."

"Somebody died here," sadly notes Quintus Moser, age 6. He, his sister Autumn, age 11, and mother Dawn, were neighbors.

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A makeshift memorial in honor of Tyree Wimberly on Hanover Ave.