Vigils planned to show support for family, urge healing for community

Two candlelight vigils are planned to help heal a community in shock and to show respects to a family in grief.

It is a little over a week since a father and son were pursued through Marksville, hemmed in at the dead end of Martin Luther King at Taensas, and shot multiple times by Ward 2/City Marshal’s deputies.

Jeremy Mardis, 6, died buckled in the seat next to his father, Chris Few. Few was hospitalized with serious gunshot wounds.

Arshad Hamideh, owner of TJ’s Lounge on Spring Bayou Road, said Chris Few is a regular customer of his store and lounge. 

“We wanted to pay our respects to the family, especially for the death of Jeremy, and let the family know that people are sorry for their loss,” he said.

A local minister is expected to speak at the 7 p.m. vigil. Hamideh said he does not know how long it will last.

Saturday at 7 p.m. there will be a candlelight vigil at the scene of the shooting, in front of the currently closed Marksville State Historic Site museum and park.

A shrine to Jeremy has sprung up at the intersection of Martin Luther King and Taensas Street.

“We want to do this vigil for Jeremy and for his father,” Chris Lachney said. “We are trying to bring this community back together. We have all been through a lot, black and white.”

Lachney, a retired Marksville Police Department detective, said he has been to the site several times recently. On those occasions, people will see him, stop and join him at the scene of the fatal shooting.

“This community is struggling now,” Lachney said. “We hope this will allow the community to -- not put this behind us, because we do not want to ever forget what happened -- but to somehow allow us to get through it.”

Lachney said the main focus of the night “will be on remembering little Jeremy and honoring his father, Chris, who was seriously wounded.”

Lachney said Marksville has “a black mark on it. There is a black mark on all of us.” He hopes the community will be able to come together to help recover from the tragedy.

He said he expects to have a preacher or priest to say a few words at the vigil.