Friends and relatives Saturday rallied around the memory of Brittany Littlejohn at Akron’s Hardesty Park to raise awareness of domestic violence.
Littlejohn, 31, was found shot to death outside her Romig Road apartment around 10:30 a.m. Feb. 21. Witnesses said they heard her scream for help.
Akron police said her boyfriend, Duane M. Lucas, 29, fled the scene. He was arrested hours later across town and charged with murder, heroin possession and felonious assault. Lucas is being held in Summit County Jail.
The case is pending in Summit County Common Pleas Court, but Littlejohn’s 11-year-old daughter, Dariyah Adams, has apparently already passed judgment.
“He took away my mother. I look up to her. I look at her as my everything,” Dariyah told the gathering Saturday.
“What if someone was to take his grandmother away? I hope he knows that when he wakes up every morning that he made a mistake.”
Dariyah said she already knows what she wants to be when she grows up: a prosecutor.
“I understand [victims] because I’ve been through it,” she said.
Littlejohn’s loved ones gathered at Hardesty Park before noon to hear the stories of two women who have suffered domestic violence. Mickey Valdez, director of services at Victim Assistance Program of Summit County, also spoke. Two advocates from the Akron-based nonprofit agency offered support.
The crowd wore 125 T-shirts with Littlejohn’s photo printed on the front and the handprints of the two children she left behind, Dariyah, 11, and Dariyan, 4, forming a heart on the back.
After the march around the park, 115 balloons were released.