PINE BLUFF, Ark. (KTHV) - Twenty-one years ago this Easter, two African-American men were murdered in Pine Bluff.
Today, their memory lives on through the efforts of family and a community who won't let homicides win.
To some, the Easter holiday would not seem fitting for this type of ceremony. But for two women and their families who are working to end gun violence, its the perfect day and time.
"In 1997, there were seven homicides in Pine Bluff in less than four months,” said Jesse Turner.
“That was my baby, that was my son, that was a part of me,” Flossie Lee said.
That summer changed lives of a wife and a mother forever.
Twenty-one years ago, Keith Norfleet and Arthur Shaw were traveling along University Drive in Pine Bluff when a woman with mental illness stopped them.
"Apparently, she flagged down the elderly man, Mr. Shaw. A few blocks on down my son was the next young man to come to the light,” said Lee.
“Point blank, she walked up with a gun and shot both of them in the head” added Turner.
Norfleet's mother, Lee, and others in the community hold a candle light program every year in memory of the two victims and other lives lost to gun violence
“Long story short, six days later they found her body,” said another mother who lost her child to senseless violence.
The event brings people together and gives them a chance to talk about their loved ones taken too soon.
“Over the years I had to learn how to forgive. I'm a survivor of cancer, so in order to live I had to forgive for myself and go on. That's the reason I've continued to take this on,” Lee said.
She feels her son never got a chance to blossom and that his destiny was cut short. Now, her life's mission is to make sure others know they aren't alone.
“As days go by, healing is taking place. Wounds are healing. Now my purpose every Easter, this is about resurrection,” said Lee.