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, ŗ£½Ē»»ĘŽ, 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 didnāt get better. She noticed her son was starting to get into trouble with his friends. Eventually, Billās friends began to bully him.
āItās 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,ā Tenesha said of Billās schizophrenia. āMy son [has] always been about his friends, he always cared about them.ā
Tenesha said sometimes Bill would have āup daysā and ādown days.ā
āSome days, I used to have to force him to stay in the house because he just wasnāt in no kinda space to be outside,ā she said. āThose days when heād have rough days, when heād wake up mad and just angry for no reason at the world and I just make him stay in the house that day, Iād be like, āNah, you chill, you need to be in your room, you need to go lay down.āā
āSometimes, I Wish That It Was A Dreamā
Tenesha moved their family to Bristol, ŗ£½Ē»»ĘŽ, in 2015 but said she couldnāt 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 motherās 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 didnāt know Karlonzo or James.
āI never in my life expected my son to go to jail for murder, never in a million of years. He wasnāt that type of person. I never imagined that and I didnāt see it at all,ā Tenesha said. āIt 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.ā
Tenesha describes her son as a ābig dudeā built like a hearty defensive lineman, at over 6 feet tall and more than 250 pounds.
āAnybody that looks at Bill would be intimidated by him right away even though heās harmless,ā she said. āThey donāt see that when they look at him, they see some big monster ācause heās so big.ā
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.
āNot 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,ā Gomez said. āAnd we canāt 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.ā
According to the Vera Institute of Justice, approximately 70% of the people currently incarcerated in ŗ£½Ē»»ĘŽ prisons came in between the ages of 18 and 24.
āMass incarceration is driven by the incarceration of young men of color,ā said Alex Frank, director of Vera and MILPAās Restoring Promise Initiative.
In 2017, Vera worked with the ŗ£½Ē»»ĘŽ 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.
āThese young men who end up in the system and in prison have been in the school-to-prison pipeline,ā he said. āThey 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.ā
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 fatherās 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.
āMe and Bill was real close. I probably wonāt even be here when he get out, and thatās the part that scares me the most,ā Tenesha said. āBecause I donāt know what heās gonna do when he comes home, and itās nobody here for him you know ācause ā¦ the only real person that Bill really, really trust is me.ā
Between her illnesses and the COVID-19 pandemic, itās difficult for Tenesha to visit her son in jail. She says Bill calls her every day.
āHe was like, āMa, I aināt want that to happen to him,ā and he tells me all the time, āIām sorry about what I did, I shouldāve just listened to you. I wish I wouldāve stayed home, I wish I wouldāve listened.ā He says that every day he canāt change it, we canāt change it.ā
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 isnāt 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.
