Gravestones at Lawrence cemetery vandalized, including that of Merrimack Valley explosions victim
“It’s hard right now because we're not at peace."
A Haverhill mother is looking for peace after her son’s gravestone was repeatedly vandalized at a Lawrence cemetery.
“This is the third time,” Michellee Geronimo told Boston 25 News from her backyard Wednesday where the stone — a memorial for her son Nike Colon — now sits. “They basically have destroyed it. His picture was the last thing they banged out. In the back, there are chunks missing from it from when they tilted it.”
Colon was 20 years old when he was killed in a drive-by shooting near Freeman and Washington streets in Haverhill on May 17, 2018.
Eddy Manuel Almonte, of Haverhill, was arrested for the alleged murder later that month in Virginia.
Geronimo said she moved the gravestone to her home from St. Mary’s Cemetery in Lawrence after the memorial was frequently vandalized. She felt as though she had to bury Colon over and over again.
“I could sit here for hours and drink coffee with him in the mornings,” she told Boston 25 while standing aside his grave. “We can’t do it anymore. We barely come.”
We are in Lawrence tonight. A mom tells us, she feels like she is burying her son over and over again. Someone keeps vandalizing his headstone, which now sits in her backyard. Her story tonight @boston25 pic.twitter.com/MfyCDOv0Ah
— Malini Basu (@MaliniBasu_) September 17, 2020
Geronimo noted that her son’s grave is not the only one that has been desecrated. Appearing on camera in the news report, she pointed to a nearby grave she said “also gets disturbed sometimes.”
According to the news station, the grave of Leonel Rondon, an 18-year old from Lawrence killed two years ago this month when gas explosions erupted in the Merrimack Valley, has also been vandalized.
The other headstone that was vandalized in Lawrence is Leonal Rondon. He was just 18y/o when he died during the Merrimack Valley gas explosion. @boston25 pic.twitter.com/moHd0VRkvD
— Malini Basu (@MaliniBasu_) September 17, 2020
Police told Boston 25 they intend to patrol the surrounding area more frequently. Geronimo wants cemetery officials to install lighting, she said.
“It’s hard right now because we’re not at peace,” Geronimo said.
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