Violence worst response to murder of young mom

No, they weren’t looking to kill Alexandra “Xanda” Gomes in the desolate hours of Sunday morning. But that hardly matters now.

Xanda is the 19-year-old girl who will be laid to rest this morning. And Niylah is the 17-month-old daughter she leaves behind, the child who will soon grow up to ask, “Why did mommy die?”

Will Niylah someday come to discover that her mother died for nothing much more than being in the wrong place at the wrong time and standing a little too close to the wrong people?

“There’s an old saying, you can’t pick your relatives, but you can pick your friends.” The source who offered this bit of insight did not know which of the men who were wounded in the same burst of gunfire that claimed Xana Gomes knew her, but in glancing at the names yesterday, he used that well-worn phrase, “no strangers to police.”

It was after 2 Sunday morning when shooting erupted at the site of a party that police had already visited earlier that night: too early for a 19-year-old girl to call it a night, but too late for a 19-year-old mother to want to keep the party going.

Those who were shot on Elder Street on Sunday, along with those who did the shooting, chose not to wait around for the police and the EMTs. They avoided questions by driving themselves to two separate emergency rooms.

So, as Xanda Gomes is buried this morning, any hint at something resembling a motive is just that - a hint.

Besides, at this point what police understand is that a motive - if you can even call it that - has already been displaced by the prospect of payback. Grieving friends have already been heard screaming out promises of “Whoever did this is going to get theirs.”

The senseless tragedy of Alexandra “Xanda” Gomes’ murder would only be multiplied if it were to become an extension of the seemingly endless blood-spilling that has scarred the Cape Verdean community over a dozen years.

But it would be a far more heinous crime if Niylah Gomes came to be raised within the malignant shadow of rage and revenge. Should that happen, the insanity on will go on to claim another victim.