2-Year-Old Shot by Dad

The father of the 2-year-old was allegedly

Police spent April fool’s day investigating the scene at 394 Chester Street in Brownsville, Brooklyn where 2-year-old Serenity Balinger was allegedly shot accidentally by her father.  It is alleged that the father of the 2-year-old, 19-year-old Eric Ballenger, was cleaning his gun when he accidentally dropped it and the gun went off and shot the toddler in the shoulder.  The child was taken to Brookdale Hospital by EMS in serious but stable condition. 

Balinger was allegedly arrested and charged with reckless endangerment and endangering the welfare of a child.

Community Advocate, Tony Herbert of the Central Brooklyn Youth Initiative, declared the community in crisis mode. Emergency crisis prevention press conferences were called by Herbert, together with the James E. Davis Stop the Violence Foundation and black church leaders  as they relentlessly plea for help to save the lives of men, women and children in Central Brooklyn.
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“The panic button was pushed immediately upon getting word that a 2-year-old had been shot. Whether it was accidental or not — we need to get these guns off the streets and out of our communities,” Herbert demanded.

“There are approximately 100 days left until school is out and children will have more time to be idle. This is a simple call to action for the leaders of ‘The Village’ to stand up and to engage in meaningful dialogue that will yield results before the summer arrives. We need Brooklyn parents to do their part, as well.  Unfortunately, there are some parents out here who are not involved and we need them to get involved.  But they also need to know that they have got a support mechanism in place to support them.”

Collectively, Herbert is conducting a Central Brooklyn Youth Summit on April 19th at Boys & Girls High School located at 1700 Fulton Street off Schenectady Avenue in Brooklyn, New York from 10:00 am until 3:00 pm.  In addition to the various teen workshops available at the summit will be a roundtable think tank discussion on how we can help the youth in our community.  “Anyone who got a federal or state grant should get out from behind your desk and be in the room,” Herbert demanded. “If the drug dealers and street thugs can stand on the corner in the rain, so can you. We have got to get out on that same corner and pass out the literature to let our young people know that they have choices The Phenomenal Women Group will work with Herbert on the Youth Summit.  Everyone is invited to attend and to get involved.

“The primary goal of this call to action is to identify and acquire any and all resources that can be marketed to our youth in Central Brooklyn, that will either employ, engage, mentor or educate them to keep them busy, pre-occupied and out of harms way, while encouraging them to become productive citizens.  The mission here is to put an end to the senseless loss of our youth to mindless deeds that are occurring in part because of a lack of resources and programs that are geared towards promoting positive youth development.  We need to come up with a plan before the summer is upon us to prevent us from becoming “guilty” bystanders witnessing additional gun violence,” Herbert continued.

“Anyone who got a federal or state grant should get out from behind your desk and be in the room,” Herbert demanded. “If the drug dealers and street thugs can stand on the corner in the rain, so can you. We have got to get out on that same corner and pass out the literature to let our young people know that they have choices The Phenomenal Women Group will work with Herbert on the Youth Summit.  Everyone is invited to attend and to get involved,” Tony Herbert concluded.


Brenda Jeanne Wyche is Managing Editor for Harlem Business News. If you have a solution, contact
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