Report by Paula Antolini, June 7, 2019, 8:48AM EDT
Today is Gun Violence Awareness Day in Bethel Connecticut and First Selectman Matthew Knickerbocker will issue a proclamation to that effect at 2:15pm on the steps of the CJH Municipal Center.
Emily Todd, a Bethel resident who was killed by gun violence on last year at the age of 25, in Bridgeport, CT, will be remembered at the ceremony, along with other gun violence victims.
Todd was found dead on December 9, 2018, on a beach in Bridgeport Harbor. The killer, Brandon Roberts, 26, a person she dated briefly and had broken off the relationship with, shot her in the back of the head. Brandon was arrested at his father’s home in Ohio on December 14th and charged with murder, felony murder, first-degree robbery, using a firearm in the commission of a felony and carrying a pistol without a permit.
Emily was born on April 7th, 1993 in Portland, Maine to Stephen Todd and Jennifer Henry Lawlor. Todd graduated from Bethel High School in 2011 and is a 2016 graduate of Lesley University located in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
She lived with her mom, Jenn Lawlor, in Bethel CT and worked as a therapeutic recreation assistant at Saint John Paul II Center for seniors in Danbury, CT. She also spent summers in the community where her father, Stephen Todd, lives in Chebeague Island, Maine.
National Gun Violence Day is held on the first Friday in June, falling on June 7th this year. Proclamations in 14 towns in Connecticut, including Bethel, will be issued today.
This day also coincides with the “Wear Orange” campaign. “Orange is the color that Hadiya Pendleton’s friends wore in her honor when she was shot and killed in Chicago at the age of 15 — just one week after performing at President Obama’s 2nd inaugural parade in 2013. After her death, they asked us to stand up, speak out, and Wear Orange to raise awareness about gun violence.” according to the Wear Orange website.
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