Black Lives Matter activist from South Carolina slain in N.O.
12th February 2018 · 0 Comments
New Orleans police released new information on the moments that led up to the Tuesday morning shooting death of a Black Lives Matter advocate from Charleston, SC who was killed in New Orleans last week..
The Orleans Parish Coroner’s Office identified the victim as 32-year-old Muhiyidin Moye.
Officers received a call at 1:24 a.m. Tuesday regarding a shooting in the 1900 block of Bienville St. An officer found a man lying on the street suffering from a gunshot wound.
MOYE
Officers also located a bullet fragment two blocks away from the victim.
“He was transported to a hospital and subsequently died of his wounds,” NOPD spokesman Beau Tidwell said. “The incident is the subject of an active and ongoing investigation.”
Camille Weaver, his niece, said Moye attempted to ride five more blocks after the shooting, according to WCSC News.
Video surveillance and a Mid-City resident who stumbled across Moye after he was shot have shed light on the activist’s final moments alive.
“He had very little breath left, and he was just, ‘Man, please help me, help me please,’” Mid–City resident Jerry Curtis told FOX 8 News.
Muhiydin is seen in surveillance video walking through Cacamo Auto Repair’s parking lot with a black mountain bike. He continues across Bienville Street and drops the bike, according to FOX 8 News.
Shortly after, several police cars pull up to find Moye on his back on the ground bleeding from a gunshot wound to his thigh.
“He fell and then I came to help him, then I really noticed how severe it was. I was like, ‘Man you were bleeding bad.’ That’s why I can’t believe that he came from that far,” Curtis said.
Curtis said Moye collapsed in front of his house.
“My wife and I were out here putting up some fencing, it was late at night, one o’clock, 1:30 a.m. or so. I went inside, I heard some shots, and when I came back out to see what’s going on, the guy was laying right here, just begging for help,” Curtis said.
Curtis said he has two of Moye’s belongings, which he hopes to return to his family.
“I had the guy’s keys up there. He had a flute that he played music, I guess. I’m like, gang bangers and things like that don’t carry flutes,” Curtis told FOX 8 News.
It wasn’t until the next day that Curtis realized who Moye was.
Curtis said the shooting has him very emotional.
“Born and raised here. I still have never been that close to something like that. Born and raised here, I’ve seen (and) I’ve heard things happen, it just never hit that close to home,” Curtis said.
Moye was charged with disorderly conduct in a February 2017 incident in which he jumped a barricade and attempted to snatch a Confederate flag away from a protestor in Charleston, SC.
The incident was caught on camera during a live report and made national headlines.
The Washington Post reported that the activist said he tried to grab the flag to “help them understand what it is to meet a real resistance, to meet people that aren’t scared.”
In a Tweet Wednesday, Black Lives Matter leader DeRay Mckesson said that d’Baha, which Moye often used as his last name, was “such a force.”
“He was an incredible leader and kind soul,” Mckesson said. “He understood the power of community and teamwork to bring about change.”
Moye’s mother told a reporter last week that her son was a “wonderful person.”
Camille Weaver told The Post and Courier of Charleston that her uncle was born in Poughkeepsie, New York, and grew up in Hollywood, South Carolina, just west of Charleston.
“He loved Charleston and loved fighting for what’s right,” she said. “I’ve never met anyone more committed and hard-working than him. He was an asset to the Charleston community and will be greatly missed.”
Someone who said Moye was a “dear friend” left an impassioned message on social media about his untimely death, calling it “a random act of violence.”
“He had so much life and energy and intellectual curiosity and capacity and love,” the post said. “The last thing he said to me was that he was doing community work out of town and that he was learning so that he would come back to Charleston and help empower the people.
“He was loved by all of his friends and respected by all those who want to see social and racial justice in Charleston,” the post continued.
Friends, loved ones and fellow activists gathered outside North Charleston City Hall Tuesday night to remember Moye.
“We are lost right now,” said Moye’s sister, Kimberli Duncan. “But we are going to find our way.”
Some of those who attended the vigil remembered the tireless and fearless leader as a beacon of light in rough times.
Those gathered outside North Charleston City Hall Tuesday night formed a circle and shared memories of how he empowered and uplifted the community.
“This was his passion, he did it from the heart. He was loving, he was funny, he was smart but it bothered him, the injustice just bothered him and it never rested well with him,” Duncan said. “He took it on as a personal battle.”
Police shooting victim Walter Scott’s brother, Anthony Scott, told those in attendance that Moye helped their family get justice after the fatal shooting of his brother.
“I thank God for placing him here to be the soldier that he is, that he was,” Anthony said.
“He was one of the most charismatic people I’ve ever met in my life,” Activist Pastor Thomas Dixon, who organized the vigil, told those in attendance. “There was a quality that he possessed that just drew people to him.”
Fellow activist Johnathan Thrower said at Tuesday’s vigil that Moye is irreplaceable and will be missed.
“The intellectualism, the fire, the desire, the motivation, the way he rallied people in the city was just second to none,” Thrower said.
Several people who attended the vigil said they are committed to continuing Moye’s legacy in the fight for justice, education and building up the community.
His family said that while he was in New Orleans he was continuing his mission.
“I don’t think he ever felt appreciated or felt that people believed in what he was doing 100 percent. He would be happy to know that his work was not for nothing,” Duncan said.
A GoFundMe page set up by Camille Weaver to raise money to return Moye’s body to Charleston and hold a memorial service had set a goal of $7,500 but had reportedly raised more than $10,000 within a few hours.
Weaver thanked supporters for their contributions, comments and condolences.
“I can say that our family is beyond appreciative for the outpouring of love and support we’ve received today,” Weaver wrote. “Moya was a light and he will shine on forever.”
This article originally published in the February 12, 2018 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
