CAPITOL HEIGHTS, Md. — WUSA9 is partnering with The Invisible Hand Foundation to offer some small measure of comfort to an 8-year-old who has seen far more than his fair share of tragedy.
The Invisible Hand Foundation is putting $7,000 in a scholarship fund for Rufus Thomas Hayes, buying him a laptop and urging the community to help him too.
Rufus' mom, Pamela Thomas, 54, was an innocent bystander who was shot to death in the back seat of her sister's car a week ago Wednesday while the family was headed to a birthday party.
Rufus saw the whole thing.
Rufus has always had nightmares, and his mom's death has only made them worse. She always used to comfort him he woke up in the middle of the night afraid. He's not sure where to turn now.
Rufus fell asleep on the couch Wednesday at his aunt's house, who was driving when Thomas was killed and is now caring for Rufus. He'd been up most of the night with bad dreams he told us about the day after his mom's death.
"Like people shooting. My mom getting killed. My dad getting killed. Me getting killed," he said.
Both his biological father and his stepdad died last year. Police are still looking for the man who killed his mom on Division Avenue, NE, D.C. a week ago.
Police say the killer was gunning for someone else when a bullet exploded through the back window of the car Rufus and his mom were riding in on the way to a cousin's birthday party.
"I ducked right down. The bullet flew right past my head, through my hair. And it shot my mom," said Rufus.
"I hollered for the police, 'We need help! We need help!'" said Rufus' aunt, Marilyn Walker.
John Pierce of The Invisible Hand Foundation heard about the tragedy and decided his anonymous donors had to help. He visited the family to tell them about the laptop and the scholarship.
"He needs the strong arms of the community to lift him up," he said. "Our mission is to lift people over obstacles."
When Walker went to Pam's apartment the day after her death to pick up a few things for Rufus, she found a note Pam had left behind. She was so scared in the neighborhood where she and Rufus lived, that she'd written out her own eulogy. "Keep something special so my kids will remember me," she wrote, signing it with a heart and the words, "Mother Pam, always."
"Losing his mom, it's going to be a challenge. He is a bright, ambitious kid, and he's going to endure the worst of circumstances. Boy, anything we can do to cushion that fall. We want to do," said Pierce.
The Invisible Hand Foundation is putting the money in a 529 plan for Rufus. which he can use for college. You can contribute by contacting the foundation.
A GoFundMe to help the family has already raised more than $27,000.
His mom's going-home service is now set for a week from Friday at 11 a.m. at Image of God Church on Branch Avenue in Temple Hills.
The reward for information in her death is now set at $40,000. Anyone with information about this case can call the police at 202-727-9099. Anonymous information may be submitted to the department’s TEXT TIP LINE by sending a text message to 50411.