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A “Justice for Alex” Rally will be held at the Putnam County Courthouse Monday night, marking the one-month anniversary of the death of Demarcus Alex Hughes.
Alex’s Friends, a group formed in the aftermath of Hughes’ death, is organizing the rally. Alex’s Aunt Michelle Gooch said Alex’s Friends wants to ensure that Alex is not defined by the way he died at West End Park on October 6.
“His legacy is of love and compassion and understanding,” Gooch said. “One thing that Alex always told all of his family members and all of his friends is ‘I got you’. So you will see that hashtag everywhere. The family’s got matching tattoos of ‘I got you’ because that is the very last message he sent to any family member before he was killed.”
The rally comes just hours before a hearing for the minor facing charges in Hughes’ death. Gooch said Alex’s Friends is a mentoring group created in Alex’s memory where adults can mentor troubled youths. Gooch said the group lives by Alex’s “I got you” motto.
“I got you’ is that youth mentor saying to the other youth ‘I’ve got you’,” Gooch said. “‘They’ve got us’ is the adult mentors behind you and they ‘go get someone else’ is we want those youths in trouble to then become a mentor and mentor other kids until it just keeps going and going. So that’s going to be his legacy, there is going to be love and compassion, and we’re building better youths because we need more kids like Alex now that he’s gone.”
The rally will be held from 6pm to 8pm Monday. Those attending are encouraged to bring battery-powered candles for a vigil and poster boards in support of Alex.
Gooch said people have come to Alex’s Friends to share their stories of Alex.
“We’ve also had hundreds of people come forward,” Gooch said. “Whether that be teachers, principals, coaches that knew Alex, friends that we didn’t even know come forward to us and pour out their hearts telling us we saw Alex mentoring a kid in the hallway. We saw Alex stop a little girl from getting bullied on the bus. We’ve had so many kids who we’ve never meant as his family that he had stood up for.”
