Bill Moore was 24 when police say he fired the bullets that would kill one 17-year-old and injure another.
He grew up in Hartford, 黑料吃瓜网, and would hang out with friends who lived in the apartment building on Park Street that would eventually become a crime scene.
In the United States, 18- to 24-year-olds make up 10% of the U.S. population, but they represent 21% of people sent to prison every year, according to the
And of those, Black men in this age group are seven to nine times more likely to end up incarcerated compared to white men.
When Bill was 18, his mother, Tenesha Lee, says he was diagnosed with psychotic paranoid schizophrenia. She said Bill started to cover the mirrors in his room with blankets because he said people would try to talk to him through the mirrors. As he got older, things didn鈥檛 get better. She noticed her son was starting to get into trouble with his friends. Eventually, Bill鈥檚 friends began to bully him.
鈥淚t鈥檚 like that just gave them permission to try and make a fool out of him whenever they seemed possible, which was not cool at all,鈥� Tenesha said of Bill鈥檚 schizophrenia. 鈥淢y son [has] always been about his friends, he always cared about them.鈥�
Tenesha said sometimes Bill would have 鈥渦p days鈥� and 鈥渄own days.鈥�
鈥淪ome days, I used to have to force him to stay in the house because he just wasn鈥檛 in no kinda space to be outside,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hose days when he鈥檇 have rough days, when he鈥檇 wake up mad and just angry for no reason at the world and I just make him stay in the house that day, I鈥檇 be like, 鈥楴ah, you chill, you need to be in your room, you need to go lay down.鈥欌��
鈥楽ometimes, I Wish That It Was A Dream鈥�
Tenesha moved their family to Bristol, 黑料吃瓜网, in 2015 but said she couldn鈥檛 seem to keep her son away from Hartford. Months before Bill was arrested and charged in December 2018 with killing Karlonzo Taylor and injuring James Harris, Bill was mugged by people he considered his friends.
A few years ago, Tenesha and Bill got tattoos together. Besides the tattoos on his face, Bill got his mother鈥檚 name and a cross tattooed on his arm. Eventually, Bill became fed up with the bullying and threats from his so-called friends. He decided he wanted revenge. Though they had mutual friends, Bill didn鈥檛 know Karlonzo or James.
鈥淚 never in my life expected my son to go to jail for murder, never in a million of years. He wasn鈥檛 that type of person. I never imagined that and I didn鈥檛 see it at all,鈥� Tenesha said. 鈥淚t shocked me, I thought it was a dream. I really did. Sometimes, I still wish that it was a dream, sometimes when I go to sleep, I wish I could wake up and everything would be back to normal. And Bill would be here.鈥�
Tenesha describes her son as a 鈥渂ig dude鈥� built like a hearty defensive lineman, at over 6 feet tall and more than 250 pounds.
鈥淎nybody that looks at Bill would be intimidated by him right away even though he鈥檚 harmless,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey don鈥檛 see that when they look at him, they see some big monster 鈥檆ause he鈥檚 so big.鈥�
Bill has been incarcerated since the shooting. Juan Gomez, executive director of MILPA, that works with incarcerated and formerly incarcerated youth and men, says society often demonizes Black boys and men. He sees it differently.
鈥淣ot only does the victim still need healing and closure and repair and reconciliation and support and hope, but this brother and his family also need that,鈥� Gomez said. 鈥淎nd we can鈥檛 continue to throw away or put away our young people into the system, when we know that they still are developing and exploring their identity.鈥�
According to the Vera Institute of Justice, approximately 70% of the people currently incarcerated in 黑料吃瓜网 prisons came in between the ages of 18 and 24.
鈥淢ass incarceration is driven by the incarceration of young men of color,鈥� said Alex Frank, director of Vera and MILPA鈥檚 Restoring Promise Initiative.
In 2017, Vera worked with the 黑料吃瓜网 Department of Correction to create specialized units within Cheshire Correctional Institution called the T.R.U.E. Program. It pairs 18- to 25-year-olds with older incarcerated men who serve as mentors. It creates an environment and culture in stark contrast to the communities that the young men come from and prison at large.
Gomez himself was formerly incarcerated.
鈥淭hese young men who end up in the system and in prison have been in the school-to-prison pipeline,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey have already had -- not even in their existence, oftentimes in their family history -- a whole trajectory, oftentimes of incarceration, of systemic racism, exposure to it, of chronic adversity, poverty.鈥�
Before Bill was arrested, he was having trouble getting hired because he has the same name as his father, who had been incarcerated. Tenesha remembers Bill coming home in tears after being sent home from a job orientation session at Walmart, plagued by his father鈥檚 record.
She says Bill would help out as much as possible by paying bills and some rent, taking his siblings to school or using the money he had to get special steak dinners. Tenesha is sick with cancer, lupus and kidney failure, so Bill helped her feel less exhausted by sharing some of the responsibilities.
鈥淢e and Bill was real close. I probably won鈥檛 even be here when he get out, and that鈥檚 the part that scares me the most,鈥� Tenesha said. 鈥淏ecause I don鈥檛 know what he鈥檚 gonna do when he comes home, and it鈥檚 nobody here for him you know 鈥檆ause 鈥� the only real person that Bill really, really trust is me.鈥�
Between her illnesses and the COVID-19 pandemic, it鈥檚 difficult for Tenesha to visit her son in jail. She says Bill calls her every day.
鈥淗e was like, 鈥楳a, I ain鈥檛 want that to happen to him,鈥� and he tells me all the time, 鈥業鈥檓 sorry about what I did, I should鈥檝e just listened to you. I wish I would鈥檝e stayed home, I wish I would鈥檝e listened.鈥� He says that every day he can鈥檛 change it, we can鈥檛 change it.鈥�
Bill has been charged with murder, first-degree assault and criminal possession of a firearm. He pleaded not guilty to those charges, but his court date continues to get pushed back because of court closures brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. Tenesha says her son isn鈥檛 a beast or a bad guy. Before he took a life and harmed another, she says, he was a victim, too.
is a public media reporting project on the role of guns in American life.
