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Gun violence victim remembered with new street name on Cleveland's east side

Anthony DeJuan Hughes Jr. was shot and killed walking home from a basketball game December 9, 2020.

CLEVELAND — We pass dozens of road signs a day, some well known and well traveled, others less so.

There's a lot of power in a name. In this case, a street name designed to help us remember Anthony DeJuan Hughes Jr., who was shot and killed on Cleveland's east side while walking home from a basketball game on December 9, 2020.

"The moment when Anthony used to walk into the club and head nod you and then walk into the gym," Councilman Richard Starr said during Friday's street dedication.

Starr held up the sign for Anthony Dejuan Hughes Junior Way, marked by a smiling young teen in a bright white tee and red backpack.

The road in his name runs on East 55th Street between Quincy and Scovill, where it's namesake took his final steps.

"Anthony was murdered right across the street from here. So the very place he took his last breath, his life continues to live on, on this entire city block," CMSD Teacher and Hughes' former homeroom teacher Vincent Stokes II said.

Credit: Tina Collins
Anthony Hughes Jr.

It's now place to honor and remember  a permanent consequence of gun violence.

"I think it's very important that his legacy continues to go on. Anthony was a father, he never got to see his daughter, so his daughter gets to see the legacy of her father...even in a street renaming," Stokes said.

For Hughes, this is his street, a way to break from statistics and be a face and name for victims.

"It's just a hard pill to swallow, and today we're just going to continue to say, 'Anthony, we still continue to love you and we miss you,'" Starr said.

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