4th annual Dre Day Gun Violence Awareness Festival to honor slain teen, promote peace
COCHRAN, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – June is National Gun Violence Awareness Month, and one Bleckley County family has turned tragedy into action.
The Dre Day Foundation began after 19-year-old Deandre Pitts
was shot and killed
by a former friend and classmate in 2021. Tomorrow is the foundation’s fourth annual anti-gun violence awareness festival.
“Deandre was a very athletic young man, a very outgoing young man, and very energetic,” said Tarious Pitts, Deandre’s uncle.
Pitts says his nephew never met a stranger, which allowed him to impact the lives of many during his 19 years of life. He says he never thinks too much about the details of his nephew’s death, but stresses that it should’ve been avoided.
“I think it was a very senseless act,” Pitts said. “Something that could’ve really been avoided with both of them taking a few seconds to step away and reassess, you know, the situation.”
Pitts says it was important for his family not to seek retaliation, but change. The Dre Day Foundation features monthly events geared toward keeping local children on the right path.
“We try to have somebody come out and just speak to them about anything, about life,” Pitts said. “And just allow them the opportunity to, if they want to express themselves, express themselves.”
Jeff Trawick, Chief of Police for the Cochran Police Department, says the department supports the festival each year. Trawick says homicide and gun violence rates in Cochran have remained steady in recent years, which he credits in large part to events that spread awareness.
“It’s a very good thing that they’re doing,” Trawick said. “It helps spread awareness. It helps, you know, let people know that there are other options. And it lets them know that, hey, there are other things you can do besides resort to violence.”
The festival will include food and informational vendors, live music and dance performers, water slides and more. Pitts says he wants everyone in attendance to have fun, but more importantly, leave with an important message about resolving conflict.
“If you feel like that you got to go out and hurt somebody or do harm to somebody then, you know, find a different way,” Trawick said. “Just avoid that person or just try to talk to someone.”
The event kicks off tomorrow at 10 a.m. in the parking lot behind the Bleckley County Courthouse and the Cochran Police Department. Attendees are encouraged to wear orange in honor of gun violence awareness.
