WASHINGTON — Shakita Slater thought her main struggle would be taking care of her 14-year-old son after he was shot. It turns out, finding a safe space to live would be almost as challenging.
Slater’s son, Jayden Mejia, was shot on the 1700 block of 7th Street NW around 10 p.m. on Labor Day, 2022.
“He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time,” she said.
That “wrong place” turned out to be their home. He was outside, near their apartment building when someone shot him in the back of his head.
D.C. Police are still investigating and searching for the shooter.
In September, they were looking for a black 2013 Nissan Altima with Maryland tag 8EL7854.
Jayden survived the shooting but was left with a traumatic brain injury, which changed his life forever.
“Right now, he’s wheelchair bound with limited consciousness and limited use of his limbs and stuff,” Slater said. “[He also has] a trach, and then also a feeding tube.”
It’s a far cry from the football quarterback she watched him excel as for the last decade.
“Most likely next year, he would have been the starting quarterback,” she said – at Roosevelt High School, that is.
As her son continues to heal at the HSC Pediatric Center, Slater has been searching for a new home.
“It's so traumatizing, like, I'm right in the building next to where my son was shot, and I have to live there,” Slater said.
Her deadline to find a new apartment is January 18, when she said HSC plans to release Jayden.
She said it’s been tough to find, though, because it needs to be ADA complaint and have enough space to accommodate Jayden’s new equipment.
If she doesn’t find a place in time, she said she’ll either have to take Jayden back to the apartment building where he was shot – or send him to a nursing home about an hour away in Virginia.
The latter, she said, is not an option.
She said she has the emergency moving voucher from DCHA to get out of her current apartment, but she said other agencies haven’t been as helpful.
Specifically, she said she’s been working with the Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (ONSE) and a community organization funded by Building Blocks D.C.
“Everyone was telling me like, ‘Don't worry, you'll get the help, you'll get the help,’ but I'm not getting any help,” Slater said.
The online description for Building Blocks said its core is “connecting residents to mental health services, stable housing, good paying jobs, education, and other critical supports by meeting them where they are. Through a whole of government approach and in partnership with the District’s most impacted communities, Building Blocks DC is working aggressively to address the urgent needs of District residents.”
She thought the group they fund would help her find that stable housing, but she said they haven’t been responsive – until this week – after WUSA9 reached out.
“Once tragedies hits, parents still need support after that,” she said.
She said she felt lucky that her son at least survived his shooting. Some of his neighborhood friends didn’t.
Slater said he was friends with Blu Bryant, the 13-year-old who was shot to death in Shaw in June 2022.
We reached out to the ONSE office about Ms. Slater’s experience finding housing, and Director Delano Hunter sent the following statement:
“The impact of homicide on the families of murder victims and of violent injury on survivors is profound, complex, and long-lasting. MPD Victim Services refers qualifying incidents to the ONSE Family and Survivor Support Program within 24-48 hours. In the immediate aftermath of these incidents, many survivors and families need assistance dealing with trauma, grief, and loss and navigating new financial or logistical burdens. The ONSE Family and Survivor Support (FSS) program assists with those critical needs. In FY22, Building Blocks DC strategic investments supported a grant that addresses one of those needs by providing short-term emergency hotel stays or financial support for relocation to qualified individuals and families directly impacted by gun violence who have urgent safety needs. These services have continued in FY23.”
Slater did confirm her case worker offered her a hotel room, but she said as of Wednesday morning, she had not received permanent housing assistance.
Instead, she’s been searching for a three bedroom apartment for herself, Jayden, and her younger son Jhamir on her own.
“D.C. is known for being resourceful, but I don't feel like we have programs targeting these type of things,” she said.
Slater wants to focus her energy on caring for Jayden, as she faces the daily reality that he’s not who he used to be.
“He was really like the type to like light up a room…His energy was like, so magnetic and like, he was just a joy to be around. I miss it every day,” she said.
His true love was sports – particularly football.
As a freshman at Roosevelt Senior High School, she said he was already the second string quarterback.
Before that, he played basketball at Cleveland Elementary School – where Jhamir now plays, too.
While she hasn’t felt supported by D.C. government, she said both of her sons' schools have been there for her.
Roosevelt’s team dedicated jerseys in Jayden’s honor, and it was one of her son’s former teachers at Cleveland that reached out to WUSA9 about her story.
She said they’ve also offered to help her move once she finds a new place.
In terms of her son’s prognosis, she said he’s doing better than doctors expected.
“I have faith, and Jayden has been doing so many things that they said he wouldn't do. They said he needed a breathing machine. He breathes well on his own, he doesn't have a ventilator. You know, they said that he probably wouldn't be able to see or hear. I know, he hears. The drop of a dime, he's like, so alert,” she said.
She’s committed to helping him improve day by day.
But first, she needs a new, safe home in which to do that.