Granddaughter of man killed in St. Denis using loss to spread gun violence awareness
By Jamie Mayes
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LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (WLKY) — A family is mourning the loss of a loved one after two men were found shot and killed in the St. Denis neighborhood.
The family has identified one of the victims as 69-year-old Edward McClain.
Jefferson County coroners identified the other man as 68-year-old Johnie Davidson Sr.
“My grandfather was just a man of few words, a gentle heart but very stern too. He was a very stern man and he really wasn’t social unless he knew you,” said J’lan Reed, granddaughter of Edward McClain.
On Sunday morning, police were called to the 4500 block of Broadleaf Drive. That’s just west of Cane Run Road. When they got to the scene, they found two men shot and killed.
“Which is also hard as well to know not only was my grandfather killed but another man also lost his life, and we don’t know why it is that either one of them have been murdered because they both are elderly men,” Reed said. “My reaction was instantly like tears. Literally, I’ve never in my life cried where it followed a grunt or crying out like with noise attached to it.”
Reed says the pain of losing a loved one is all too familiar.
“My grandfather got killed over here, but my daddy also got murdered across the street,” Reed said.
Reed’s father was killed in 2007, and just months before that, her mother was murdered too. She also had cousins who were homicide victims.
“It kind of shows the ugliness of a world in which you are in, in which you are living in day to day, and it makes you think about every person that you have around you. It really brings about a paranoia of living life more so than an enjoyment of living life as it should be,” Reed said.
Reed uses that pain to fuel her desire to bring about good in the world by sharing the impact of gun violence.
“Family members are left with just memories of a person they should be able to continuously make memories with,” Reed said.
She’s hoping her story will bring about change and the violence will end.
Anyone with information is asked to call 574-LMPD.
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