Compassion Corner Davis
This is been quite the awful week in Davis. On Thursday last week, David Breaux, who was known as the compassion Guy in Davis and would stand on this corner offering to talk about compassion, was found murdered in Central Park across the street. He was 50. A decade ago he played a role in making this bench, the Compassion Bench, on the corner of 3rd and C. A vigil was held for him last Sunday evening, but that was affected by the fact there was another murder, another awful stabbing, the night before at another Davis park. Karim Abou Najm, a 20 year old student a month away from graduating, was killed in Sycamore Park as he was coming back from an undergrad awards ceremony. A witness who came to help the victim saw the killer get away. So the Davis community has been in a state of shock since. Then on Monday night, our phones all went off with a police alert that there had been another stabbing, this time at a homeless camp on the corner of 2nd and L, a woman named Kimberlee Guillory was attacked and hospitalized but thankfully did not die, after some of her neighbours chased the perp away. Massive police hunt, FBI, and the community pulling together, and a suspect was taken in on Wednesday, and formally arrested Thursday. He was a 21 year old who had been a UCD student until two days before the first killing (sounds like he'd been expelled). The town breathed a sigh of relief but everyone is still sad and exhausted, and mourning the loss of two good people.
On Wednesday, with the police and community still hunting for the killer, I went down to Compassion Corner downtown to see the floral tribute for David Breaux. There were news reporters there talking to people who knew him, people leaving notes, or just stopping by and thinking. I have passed by this bench so many times, but never sketched it, never stopped to talk to David myself.
The Davis Enterprise has been doing some sterling reporting on the events. You can read more here: www.davisenterprise.com/news/local/breaking-suspect-21-ar...
Compassion Corner Davis
This is been quite the awful week in Davis. On Thursday last week, David Breaux, who was known as the compassion Guy in Davis and would stand on this corner offering to talk about compassion, was found murdered in Central Park across the street. He was 50. A decade ago he played a role in making this bench, the Compassion Bench, on the corner of 3rd and C. A vigil was held for him last Sunday evening, but that was affected by the fact there was another murder, another awful stabbing, the night before at another Davis park. Karim Abou Najm, a 20 year old student a month away from graduating, was killed in Sycamore Park as he was coming back from an undergrad awards ceremony. A witness who came to help the victim saw the killer get away. So the Davis community has been in a state of shock since. Then on Monday night, our phones all went off with a police alert that there had been another stabbing, this time at a homeless camp on the corner of 2nd and L, a woman named Kimberlee Guillory was attacked and hospitalized but thankfully did not die, after some of her neighbours chased the perp away. Massive police hunt, FBI, and the community pulling together, and a suspect was taken in on Wednesday, and formally arrested Thursday. He was a 21 year old who had been a UCD student until two days before the first killing (sounds like he'd been expelled). The town breathed a sigh of relief but everyone is still sad and exhausted, and mourning the loss of two good people.
On Wednesday, with the police and community still hunting for the killer, I went down to Compassion Corner downtown to see the floral tribute for David Breaux. There were news reporters there talking to people who knew him, people leaving notes, or just stopping by and thinking. I have passed by this bench so many times, but never sketched it, never stopped to talk to David myself.
The Davis Enterprise has been doing some sterling reporting on the events. You can read more here: www.davisenterprise.com/news/local/breaking-suspect-21-ar...