Following the shooting deaths of her father and brother, Kayla Thompson, a St. Louis elementary school teacher, said watching news of other gun crimes is stressful for her.
“I do try to avoid watching the news, but I know that won’t be a solution,” she said.
On June 5, 2010, street crime claimed the life of Kayla’s father Tyrone Thompson. The former Pagedale police officer was sitting in a vehicle near his North St. Louis County home when two 18-year-olds robbed and fatally shot him.
“I learned that the people who robbed him went to school with my little brother,” Thompson said. “[My dad] had a very charismatic personality. Everybody liked him. I don't know one person that could say a bad thing about him.
“One of the reasons I became a teacher was because when my father was killed, I wanted to make it so that no child would have to make that choice to kill somebody for money,” she said.
Less than a month ago, June 9, in the cruelest kind of déjà vu, armed gunmen shot and killed Kayla Thompson’s 28-year old brother Tyrell during a Central West End street robbery, ending a promising art career.
“I didn’t believe it because it happened just four days after celebrating the anniversary of my dad’s death.”
Tyrone Thompson is the son of former Missouri Representative Betty Thompson of University City. Tyrell Thompson is her grandson.
To make sense of two senseless deaths, Thompson blogs about what happened to her family. The title for one of her blogs is “Losing Your Dad When You’re A Daddy’s Girl".
“I started blogging just to stay sane really, for my mental health,” said Thompson. “Since I started blogging a lot of people have reached out to me saying 'You know, I’ve been through the same thing. I’m so happy you’re writing about this.’”
Thompson’s family created the Tyrone Thompson Institute for Nonviolence, which targets students who have been suspended from school. In a new approach to school suspensions, St. Louis Community College students tutor and mentor suspended students in the St. Louis Public Schools, through eighth grade.
In her brother’s honor, Kayla Thompson hopes to create an art gallery, The Finesse Center, to encourage young artists. Finesse was Tyrell Thompson’s nickname. A Finesse Center fundraiser is planned for July 14, 7 p.m., at the Mad Unicorn, 2211 Gravois.
“I feel like all of us need to do what we can and what we are able to do to end gun violence or to end violence, period.”
