Chattanooga teenager's music video 'Put the guns down' gains traction online

When 19-year-old Courtney Evans looks at the list of the men and women killed in Chattanooga this year, she knows many of the names.

She was at work two weeks ago when her Facebook feed filled up with rumors that her friend, 19-year-old Kevin Albert Jr., had been shot to death.

"I was just seeing people saying it isn't true; he's not dead; he's not dead," she said. "I was like 'Wow.' And the next hour after I got off work - it was true."

On Wednesday, Evans, a Brainerd High School graduate who now works as a welder, published a music video featuring a song she wrote that pleads with her peers to put their guns down. An aspiring artist, she's been publishing videos for years.

photo Courtney Evans, 19, created a music video pleading with her peers to 'Put the guns down.'

"Everybody get shot, everybody get popped, everybody get gunned down," she sings. "I wish you [expletive] put the gun down. Many [expletive] they ain't waiting till the sun down. They coming round your block hot with the guns out. Kids all on the porch gettin' shot now. Mama crying to the press, like why me? My baby boy he was only just 17. He had a baby on the way, he ain't see him breathe."

The four-minute video, "Put the Guns Down," gained immediate traction on social media and was viewed more than 9,700 times within 19 hours after Evans posted it to her Facebook page.

"I hope it sends a message to our younger generation," Evans said. "They're liking it; they're sharing it; they're singing it; they're downloading it on their phone. I hope it can stay with them for a long time."

In the video, Evans features many local people who have recently lost family members or friends to gun violence.

Patricia Patillo, 18, appears in the video with her 3-month-old daughter Paris, whose father, Malik Blackstock, 18, was shot to death in April.

"When Courtney came to me about her video, it touched me," Patillo said. "I think it's opened a lot of eyes. I think it's going to get somewhere."

She was seven months pregnant when Blackstock died. Her mother is making a memory book to help Paris understand who her dad was.

"[A book] of pictures and videos of when he was alive and when I was pregnant," she said. "We're going to wrap it up and put in a box and give it to her for Christmas."

So far this year, 22 people have been killed in Chattanooga. Thirteen of those victims were black. Seventeen of the people killed were males, four were female and one baby was killed before birth and the gender is unknown.

Evans estimates she's known 100 people who have died, but not just in Chattanooga.

"It's not just a Chatt song," she said. "It's for everywhere, everybody who has lost anyone."

Contact staff writer Shelly Bradbury at 423-757-6525 or sbradbury@timesfreepress.com with tips or story ideas.

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