BATON ROUGE – Cathy Toliver, grandmother of three-year-old Devin Page, invites the community to pray for the town at a back-to-school prayer event Saturday. It has been two heartbreaking years since little Devin Page Jr., a bright-eyed three-year-old boy, was tragically killed by a ricochet bullet while sleeping peacefully in his bed. The case that shocked the community remains unsolved, leaving his family in a state of ongoing grief.

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On April 12, 2022, at around 11:45 p.m., Devin was struck in the head by a bullet during a drive-by shooting in the 5100 block of Fairfields Avenue. The shots were aimed at the house next door, but a single, fateful bullet veered off course and destroyed the lives of Devin’s family.

Devin’s grandmother, Cathy Toliver, has spoken openly about her ongoing pain and struggle to cope with the loss. “The pain is unbearable. My daughter still can’t believe it,” Toliver said. “It’s just hard to deal with it every day. It’s hard to deal with the absence of our grandchild every day, just difficult.”

After the death of her grandson, Toliver channeled her grief into a mission to combat gun violence in Baton Rouge. Her belief in the power of prayer has become her shining example.

“Prayer is the answer. Prayer is powerful, and I know prayer is so powerful because I almost died in 2016 during surgery. I literally almost died,” Toliver said, recalling her own near-death experience. “Prayer is powerful when you are united, and then you can’t stop praying. Then you have to do the work.”

There have already been nearly 200 gun incidents in Baton Rouge this year, many of them fatal. There were 170 homicides in the parish in 2021 and 135 in 2022. According to the East Baton Rouge Parish Coroner’s Office, 2023 ended with 100 homicides.

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Toliver’s commitment to ending gun violence has led her to organize a “Back to School Prayer” event to be held in the parking lot of 100 Black Men’s headquarters. She is calling on community leaders and residents to join her in praying for the safety and well-being of Baton Rouge.

“I ask people to get involved, but my message has always been: Unless it happens to you, don’t get involved,” Toliver said, stressing the need for collective action. “We did nothing wrong. My baby was sleeping in his bed and something that had nothing to do with us came into our lives.”

The Back to School Prayer event will take place on Saturday, August 10th at 12:00 p.m. at the 100 Black Men headquarters at 2050 N. Foster Drive, Baton Rouge, LA 70806. Toliver hopes the event will inspire the community to unite in the fight against gun violence and honor the memory of her beloved grandson.

The second anniversary of Devin’s death was just a few months ago, and his family is still searching for justice and healing, hoping their pain can serve as a catalyst for change in a community plagued by senseless violence.

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