MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Senior Pastor at Colonial United Methodist Church Birgitte French and Rev. Autura Eason-Williams were friends for almost two decades.
The two called each other all the time, but on July 18, French had no idea she would be the last person Eason-Williams would talk to.
“I called my husband and I said I just experienced the worst thing in my life,” said French.
This is a memory French said she will never forget.
“She was laughing and she had the most infectious laughter,” said French, “Her laughter turned into scream…. A scream that I never heard before.”
French kept calling her name.
“Autura, Autura what’s happening…. Then I heard the shots, and her screaming stopped.”
French called 911, gave them Eason-Williams' information, and met the Reverend's children at the hospital. There they all learned Autura died.
“She loved everybody, she cared for everyone, she was passionate about justice for all people,” said French.
Seven months later the memory, sadness, anger and the shock remains. One of the teenagers accused of Eason-Williams murder is out of jail after paying bond. 15 year-old Miguel Andrade is being tried as an adult.
He was released February 15 after posting a $200,000 bond.
“He was already on probation, he was wearing an ankle bracelet,” said French, “He was moved to adult court for a reason, and that he is out on bond after what he had done is baffling.”
However French and many of Eason-Williams loved ones are continuing the fight for a cause she believed in, Restorative Justice.
“She would want them to get the help that they need so that this would not happen again,” said French.
A cause continuing to carry on through Memphis.
“We want to see people restored, and I think that’s a lot of our responsibility, not to be vengeful, to be hateful, but to be prayerful, and in whatever way we can encourage young people who find themselves in the midst of crime and drugs and violence, we should want to do something to help them,” said Russell Morrow, Mullins United Methodist Church Senior Pastor.
French is currently working to create an after school program where local children would be able to do things like homework, crafts and play sports, a project similar to what Autura Eason-Williams would of done in her effort to change lives for the better.