DURHAM — Not long after Robin Oliver’s 21-year-old son was fatally shot in front of her home in the Bluefield neighborhood, a stranger paid her a visit.
Marcia Owen brought flowers and food. She listened as Oliver talked about her son. Eventually, she helped plan a candlelight vigil that drew more than 50 people – many of whom had never met DeAndre Oliver – to Oliver’s yard late last month.
Owen, 57, has attended hundreds of such vigils over her 20 years with the Religious Coalition for a Nonviolent Durham. She works with families to mark violent deaths with public mourning, including larger annual events that honor all those killed in the past year.
