PROVIDENCE — It's only a few blocks from St. Michael Church on Oxford Street to Sayles Street, where 19-year-old Omar Polanco was shot to death on Sept. 8, 2012. His murder has never been solved.
On the anniversary of his death, about 75 family and friends slowly marched from the church, past the Prairie Street home of the Polancos and around the corner to the spot on Sayles Street where the young man died.
Jessie Polanco, Omar's 27-year-old sister, said the purpose of the march was to keep Omar's memory alive on the anniversary of his death and to send a message to stop the violence on the streets of Providence.
When the silent procession reached Sayles Street, family members rested a white cross decorated with artificial flowers against a chain-link fence at the site of Polanco's murder.
His mother, Juana "Jenny" Polanco, wearing a white T-shirt with Omar's picture on the front and the words "Mi Angel" on the back, spoke in Spanish. As translated by Sharinna Tejada, one of Polanco's cousins, she spoke of how difficult it was to lose a son, and urged young people in the crowd to listen to their parents' warnings.
The night Polanco was killed, she said, she urged him not to go out.
Friends and family said Polanco was not involved with the street life, and portrayed him as a hard-working, ambitious young man who only wanted a better world for himself and his family.
"I would have never, never, never have imagined this for Omar," said Megan Cresci-Johnson, Polanco's former adviser at the Met School in Providence, who was there along with several of his classmates. "This was not Omar's life at all."
Cresci-Johnson said teachers and administrators at the Met school do their best to speak against violence and urge their students to be careful. But it doesn't always work.
Polanco's father, Nolberto Polanco, wiped away tears as he stood in front of St. Michael's after Sunday Mass, just before the march got under way. "He was a good person. … hardworking, really dedicated to his family," he said of his son, speaking in Spanish.
Later, on Sayles Street, he expressed anger that his son's murder has not been solved.
"My dad was talking out of frustration," said Jessie Polanco. "It's been a year, and nothing's been done. We want to know: what is being done? My mother does not want our brother's death to remain unsolved. She wants to know who did this."
After leaving Sayles Street, the marchers headed back to Oxford Street, this time to the Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence, where there was food — and memories, with photos of Polanco along the walls.
Jose Rodriguez, a street worker for the Institute, said he made it to the scene of Polanco's death shortly after the shooting. He said events such as the Polanco family's march can raise awareness of the problem of violence.
"Events like this, if they get people involved, get people talking, maybe it can make a difference," he said. "It shows that there are people who care."
There were 17 homicides in Providence in 2013. Arrests or arrest warrants were obtained in nine of them.
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