I Live This Every Day. People Are Hurting.

"Everyone sees a side on the news, but I live it. I have to live this every day."

These powerful words from Yolanda Harrison capture the devastating reality of gun violence in America—not as a headline that fades, but as an unending journey of grief that transforms lives forever. Yolanda's story begins with her son Devan: a talented musician, church youth group member, and college student with dreams. Despite growing up in a good neighborhood, attending quality schools, and being raised with strong values, Devan became one of the countless young Black men lost to senseless violence.

The night Devan died started ordinarily enough. They had planned to see a movie, but when Yolanda had a headache, Devan went out to meet someone about making music, saying he would return soon. That was the last time she saw him alive. What followed was every parent's nightmare—a middle-of-the-night hospital call, the trauma of seeing her son with a fatal gunshot wound to the head, and the fog of grief so thick she doesn't even remember his funeral.

The shooter served less than a year on a misdemeanor charge. Media reports falsely suggested drug involvement, reinforcing the very stereotypes Yolanda had worked tirelessly to keep her son from being associated with.

From this unimaginable loss emerged purpose. Yolanda founded Mothers of Black Sons Standing Against Death. Her advocacy work spans from partnering with former gang members to serving on the Mayor's Hope Council, all focused on creating paths away from violence for young people.

This episode kicks off Smart Justice's special series on Group Violence Intervention (GVI), an evidence-based approach that identifies the small number of individuals driving most violent crime and engages them directly before violence occurs. Through stories like Yolanda's, we see that addressing gun violence requires more than outrage—it demands community-based solutions that offer everyone a shot at hope.

Chapters

• 0:00 The Aftershock of Gun Violence
• 1:15 Devin's Story: A Life of Promise
• 6:22 The Night Everything Changed
• 10:25 Finding Answers Amid Grief
• 16:35 Turning Pain Into Purpose
• 20:10 A Shot at Hope

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Everyone sees a side on the news, but I live it. I have to live this every day. People are hurting. They're going to be hurting for the rest of their lives. So those are the after effects. It's like the aftershock of these crimes.

Speaker 2: 0:13

Around the nation. Gun violence is destroying families and weakening communities, and it's becoming a leading cause of death for young people. We know that in nearly every city, only a small number of people are driving most of the violence. An approach called group violence intervention, or GVI, identifies those individuals and engages with them directly, trying to offer them a way out before the violence occurs. It's not just about stopping the shootings. It's about building a community where everyone feels like they have a shot at hope. Behind every headline about violence is a story of unimaginable loss. Yolanda Harrison is a mother, a veteran, a nurse and now an advocate. Her 20-year-old son, devin, was shot and killed.

Speaker 1: 1:13

What followed was a painful journey through grief and several unanswered questions. He had graduated Bryan High School in 2016. He went to college. He went to SAU Tech. He was a graphic design major and after his first year of college he was like Mom, he's a big, he's a music guy. So Devin played the bass guitar. He played keyboard a little. He's a music guy. So Devin played the bass guitar, he played keyboard a little. He played several small bands. He had friends that would perform at Vino's and places and he would fill in for them.

Speaker 1: 1:32

So he kind of loved his music and he could mix music, like make beats on his Apple laptop and stuff. So he was really into music. But he didn't want to do graphic design anymore. He wanted to come back home and change schools and major in music. And, um, it was against everything because I just felt like he wasn't going to make money in music. But I let him follow his own dreams. So, um, once he graduated, he went to school. One year, came back home, he was working. Um, he said he was going to work, uh, and start back in the fall, the spring of 2019. Um, so he wanted to work and start back in the spring of 2019. So he wanted to work, take that semester off and work and then just start back in January of 2019 and start back to school. So he wanted to save up some money. So that's what his plan was.

Speaker 1: 2:20

So Devin was really quiet, never been in trouble, never been in trouble with the law, never been in trouble at home. He was a rebellious kid as far as, like you know, nothing major bad, like you said. He wasn't stealing or doing drugs or doing nothing crazy like that. But he would just, you know, stay out past curfew, sometimes do things like that, you know. But other than that, he was a mama's boy, real quiet, real mild-mannered young man. Like he's the young man that if we're in the grocery store there's an elderly lady, he'll go help her put her groceries in the car. Like that was him.

Speaker 1: 2:52

You know he was involved in church. We went to Second Baptist, so he was involved in church and he worked with the youth musicians, with the youth group, and so he was involved with the youth groups from the age of five until he graduated high school. And other than that, just love practical jokes, always pranking me and his sister. Oh, I missed that, but he used to do a lot of pranks on us. I don't know his obsession with pranks, but he was a big Criss Angel fan. Oh my God, his love for magic. Well, criss Angel, actually, not just any magician, but magician, but Criss Angel specifically. So we were going to like get him tickets for his 21st birthday before he was killed to go see him in Vegas. That was the plan.

Speaker 2: 3:49

So excuse me, Devin was working, saving money and planning to return to school in the spring. The night he died, he and Yvonda had planned to go to the movies.

Speaker 1: 4:03

And he worked part-time at the movie theater. He was a big movie guy also, so we always rate movies. Sorry the memories, I'm sorry. This particular night we were supposed to go to the movies and I had a headache. So he said well, I'll tell you what, I'll be back, we'll go tomorrow night. He said I'll be back, I need to go meet with. He said, well, I'll tell you what, I'll be back, we'll go tomorrow night. He said I'll be back. I need to go meet with. He may have mentioned the young man's name. He said he wanted to some beats, he wanted to hear some beats and I'll be back. And that was the last time I saw him. That night. He said well, I love you. I said I love you too.

Speaker 1: 4:40

Nothing unusual about that night. He left the house that night and I just got a call middle of the night, like 1.30, 2 o'clock and work at a hospital. So I saw the phone number I knew it was a hospital number but I didn't know which hospital and the lady was kind of whispering. She said hi. I said hi, and I'm raised up. I said hi, yes, ma'am. She said are you the mom of Devin? Are you the guardian of Devin Sproul and I said I'm his mother. I said who is this? She said could you come up to St Vincent? I said sure. I said why. What's going on? I said was he in a car wreck or something? My husband went with me and my niece. I often picked her up from our house so we went up there. I said I think Devin was in a car wreck. Those were my exact words.

Speaker 1: 5:25

So when I got up there I saw crime scene tape and I saw blood, but again didn't think anything. I said, ooh, something happened to somebody. I'm walking in the ER. And she said come through the ER. So I came in and as soon as I walked in, three officers this bombarded me. I said whoa, you know, I was shocked. So they took me in this room. I said wait a minute. I said I work in a hospital. I said don't beat around the bush with me. I said what is going on? You know. I said you got me. I said I know this routine. I work in the ER. I said so what's?

Speaker 1: 6:00

Then the chaplain walked in. I stood up. I said what's going on? He said he was real calm. He said, ma'am, you mind having a seat? I said sir, I work in the ER. I said why are you here? I said talk to me, just be straight up, don't beat around any bushes with me.

Speaker 1: 6:16

So at that point he said the doctor walked in, she had blood on her, she was kind of upset and she said we're working on him. I said working on him. What's going on? What do you mean? You're working on him? She said well, there's been an accident. Did they not tell you? I said no. I said what kind of accident? She said your son was shot. I said is he okay? You said you're working on them. I said can I go in there and see them? She said no, no, no, no. I said I work in the ER. I said let me go in, let me go in. Nothing there I haven't seen. Oh, wow. So and the chaplain said let her go, that's her son, let her go in. So I was like, yeah, let me go.

Speaker 1: 6:57

I'm thinking maybe I didn't expect to walk in see my son laying there with a hole in his head. Yeah, I think that at that moment I died. My spirit left my body because I don't, it wasn't me there. I think it's almost like I glided up to his body and I was staring at my son. I touched him. He was cold. And I was staring at my son. I touched him, he was cold and they were doing CPR on him. And she allowed me to get that close, which is rare. We don't allow family to get that close to someone, but she allowed me. I was just standing there just staring at him, staring at this, and here I am. I tried to pretend it wasn't my son. I said okay. I said gunshot wound back of the head. Interest wound to the back, exit through the front. I'm literally talking like this was someone else, like this wasn't my son, like I'm looking at a patient that wasn't my son and I'm describing what was going on.

Speaker 1: 8:01

I said gunshot wound back of the head. I'm just talking to myself, just kind of mumbling this you know. I said vital signs. I said vital signs not good. I said they're doing CPR. I'm literally talking as if I'm working. I think they all thought I was crazy. I was just talking, just mumbling.

Speaker 1: 8:17

The doctor stood right there beside me looking at me. I said continue CPR. As if he was not my child. She said you heard her continue CPR. I remember telling them that they continue CPR. I remember telling them that they continue CPR. They said we're going to shock them again. They shocked them. Vitals came back. I said vitals back and he started flatlining again. I said shock them again. And she looked at me. I said shock them again. And she said shock them again. She told them to shock them again. I remember them shocking him and when they shocked him the second time this blood started gushing out of his nose and I guess I blacked out at that moment.

Speaker 1: 8:58

I don't remember what happened after that. I don't remember anything after that. I don't remember his funeral. I literally, from that moment I remember up to that moment. But from that moment to after the funeral they said I wrote his obituary word for word. I don't remember. I literally do not remember.

Speaker 1: 9:17

I've been in counseling. I don't remember anything. I picked out his clothes, I don't remember. So whew. But afterwards I was in extensive counseling. I had a private counselor for several years. Matter of fact, I took a whole year off work, well, probably 10 months. So I worked with some awesome people. Of course I didn't have that much leave, but so many doctors donated their leave. They don't take leave hardly doctors, but they all donated so I could be off like 10 months, yeah, awesome. After that I said okay, I have to pull myself together because I have a daughter. She was in Air Force. His sister is six years older than him. I said I have to pull myself together because I have to fight for my son. I have to be his voice. I said so if I don't pull myself together because I have to fight for my son, I have to be his voice. I said so if I don't pull it together, who's going to be his voice?

Speaker 2: 10:14

In the weeks and months that followed, she searched for answers and accountability.

Speaker 1: 10:21

I started just getting involved with different groups and just throwing myself into these groups and just trying to direct all that grief and anger and hate I had for the young man. It took my son to something positive because I'm like this is not what God want for me. He doesn't want me to hate because here my son was, like he could have been this thug on the street not saying that he still would have deserved to die, but the fact that he didn't have anything going on bad in his life, like he was trying to do everything right and I lost him. He grew up in a house where he and his sister had a great life. I made sure they lived in the best neighborhoods, went to the best schools. I tried to, you know, do everything right, but that wasn't good enough. It didn't save my son. So I think a lot of my pain came from that, because it's like to save my son. So I think a lot of my pain came from that because it's like why did we work so hard to give him this life and I still lost him? So it was like God, you have to help me with this, because it didn't make sense. Like why did we do all this to still lose him. Like we didn't want him to be a statistic and he ended up being a statistic on the other end.

Speaker 1: 11:30

You know I always told him don't be that young man, don't fall into stereotypes, don't be the angry black boy, don't be sagging. He knew not to sag, I didn't. He wasn't allowed to sag. He you weren't allowed to, I didn't. And I know this may be kind of stereotypical. I didn't like all the dreads. He kept his hair very low cut. I mean, I'm ex-military, his dad was too, so we were very militant with him. Like, nice haircut, he has to stay clean cut. Like I didn't want him to fit in any stereotypes and we did everything to do that and I still lost him. So it's like didn't matter what everything we did for him not to fit, he ended up being on the other end of the gun violence.

Speaker 1: 12:13

Like I didn't want him to be the kid to pull the trigger, hurt someone or be a bad guy, rob someone, steal, or. I always want him. Yes, sir, no, sir, yes, ma'am, no, ma'am. He did that to the day he died. He was, he was always very polite, so it was like I wanted that for my son. I wanted him to be the good guy. You always be a good kid, you always do the right thing and yes, ma'am, I do. I always, mom, I always do. You tell me that you know, and that's the life we wanted for him and we thought we gave him, but obviously somebody else didn't teach their child that.

Speaker 2: 12:43

She was told the shooting was likely accidental, but she says that she found that hard to believe.

Speaker 1: 12:49

This is a story that I got, so I wasn't there. So I'm telling you guys what I heard. My son got to the house on Fair Park. He came in with his laptop and it was five boys. I did not know the other boys at all. I never met any of them, even the one who pulled the trigger. I've never met him before. So they said my son was sitting at a table with his laptop open and he was doing something, a beat or something, and the other two guys were sitting, like it was two rooms but like it was open room, like they were sitting there listening, and so he had the speakers on and he was mixing. They wanted him to see if he could collaborate two songs and make a third song, like two songs. And he was like they said he was the only person who could do that that they knew. So he actually did it. So they were cheering. So the young man who pulled the trigger he happened to just walk and came into the house like at the end of them while they were there. He came in like at the end.

Speaker 1: 13:48

Now, to this day I don't know where the gun. It wasn't my son's gun. I don't know where the gun came from. The officers never really told me who brought the gun. They said the young man who pulled the trigger didn't bring the gun. But it wasn't my son's gun. But all I know is that the story that I originally got from the police officers, that the story that I originally got from the police officers that the young man was waving the gun and it went off and shot my son but I didn't believe that.

Speaker 1: 14:19

I called the coroner. He said there was so much gunpowder Because when I saw my son I knew he was lying about waving the gun. He was like literally like he was in another room in the gun. I know gunshot wounds. That was a point blank, because this here was open and I know how gunshot wounds look. And I said no, I couldn't accept what they were telling us. You all are lying to me. He said we don't have to lie. I said you are lying. I didn't want to tell them how I knew. I saw my son's head and so he said that Coroner said there was so much gunpowder on the back of your son's head. I knew it was point blank. So the story that they wrote down and what the officers were sticking with he was waving it and excited and the gun just went off. No, it was pointed to his head and trigger was pulled. It was literally on his head, on his head. So he never knew.

Speaker 1: 15:18

And I asked the coroner did he die immediately? Because I needed to know he didn't suffer. I needed to know that Because I know sometimes you can get gunshot wounds and you don't immediately die. He said from the wound. He had to immediately. That made me feel better because I didn't want my son to suffer what he went through. And also what upset me was they didn't call 9-1-1. They did not call 9-1-1. They attempted to clean up my son's blood. They attempted to clean the scene as he lay there bleeding out. So instead of them doing that, they took it upon themselves. After they cleaned, attempted to clean, they decided to pick up his body, put it in someone's car and drive to St Vincent. Hence the blood. I saw y'all saw when I came in. That was my son, when they drugged him out of the car into the emergency room.

Speaker 2: 16:13

She also struggled with how the media portrayed her son.

Speaker 1: 16:16

The first article I saw on the news was you know, I had my son's name on the news. He was shot and a young man who shot him, felony drug charges. I said drugs. So admittedly, I got angry. I was angry at my son. At this point I'm like drugs, like I surely my son wasn't trying to sell drugs as much as we give him and buy from him.

Speaker 1: 16:38

So when I got, did my investigation. I'm telling you, I became a detective myself. I went to police department every day. I said tell me who had drugs what? Oh, nobody had drugs. What no drugs? There was no drugs. I said, well, what about the alcohol? There was no alcohol. I said, well, what about the alcohol? There was no alcohol. I said so why did the news say that? So when I called the news stations of course I called all of them you all reported that there was drugs. Oh, we thought. But you put that out there on my son, every stereotype that I have worked so hard not to have on him.

Speaker 1: 17:15

Here he is blackmail, now drug charged. Everybody think, oh, was Devin selling drugs. Like, are you kidding me? So time went on, covid came, two years went by, no trial, so finally they were charging him with manslaughter, which I wanted them to charge him with first degree, they said, well, no, because he said it was an accident. It doesn't matter, the gunpowder shows that it wasn't an accident. Well, ma'am, we have to stick with that we have. We cannot charge too high or he can walk. Well, guess what he did? He took a plea.

Speaker 2: 17:47

The shooter was charged with negligent homicide, a misdemeanor, and served less than a year in jail.

Speaker 1: 17:55

That's pretty much how my son's case ended. It was just like no real investigation. I still have a lot of pieces and I think that's why I don't really have the closure, because I never really got the answers.

Speaker 2: 18:09

Out of this loss, Yolanda founded an organization, Mothers of Black Sons Standing Against Death. She began using her voice to raise awareness and push for change.

Speaker 1: 18:19

And it's really moms of all sons, but we say black sons because black males homicides is the number one cause of death for black males, black and brown males. So I want to bring awareness to that. So so many communities aren't aware, like, how bad the stats are. You know, you have, literally, even though the black community is like 12, 13 percent of the population, black males only make up maybe 5 or 6 percent. So 5 percent of the population literally is responsible for 50 percent of the homicides. That is staggering. Why are black males, how are they able to get guns? I've found out like 12 and 13 year olds don't have lunch money but they can get an AK-47 before they can buy lunch. How is that possible? Somebody knows the answer to this. How can he get this gun? So what do we do? And that's why I want my organization you know we out there trying to figure out what can we do to stop the young man with violence.

Speaker 1: 19:20

I've talked with the mayor about getting more activities in the city and I know most of those cities there's not enough activities for these young people. They feel like this is their only way out. You know this is, and I know that a lot of the young boys are being led by older boys criminals, because it's easier for them to take the time. If they're juvenile, you can get them out. You're a juvenile, so you can get out soon. So of course, they're going to do what the older boys say, you know, to fit in. So how can we change this? And I literally work with several former gang members. I sit down with them and talk with them. They're no longer in gangs and they went in their old community that they grew up in and went out in the streets and talked to young boys about don't do it, don't trade places with us. We went to prison before we have changed. We don't want you all. So they made a difference. So obviously these are the things that need to be done.

Speaker 1: 20:13

I'm part of the Hope Council, the Mayor's Hope Council. I'm on there as an advocate speaking about the gun violence. So they pretty much just get my viewpoint on, like you said, a personal, my personal experience about what can we do with gun violence. So I again share my story about you know what I've experienced and how it affects mothers like me, or parents or families, so they can see the real side of what gun violence does. Everyone sees a side on the news, but I live it. I have to live this every day. So that's why I do what I do to know there's a face behind this pain. There may be a gunshot wound and next week you're on a new one, but guess what? The last one. There's pain behind that one. There's pain behind this one. There's pain behind this one. There's pain behind this one. Even though we're on number 25, but one through 24, people are hurting. They're going to be hurting for the rest of their life. So those are the after effects. It's like the aftershock of these crimes.

Speaker 2: 21:13

Stories like Yolanda's remind us that outrage alone is not enough. We need real, evidence-based strategies to break the cycle of violence and save lives. In this special series from Smart Justice, we'll continue to examine a strategy that's been working for several cities around the nation called group violence intervention. We'll introduce you to people who are passionate about bringing it to their community. Solutions begin with all of us, and we all need a shot at hope. Listen to A Shot at Hope on YouTube, apple Podcasts, spotify or wherever you get your podcasts, or go to smartjusticeorg.