Community Comes Together To Help Family Of Man Shot To Death

BAY SHORE, NY — The Bay Shore community is coming together to help the family of a 26-year-old man who was killed in a shooting in Wyandanch last weekend.

Mark Birthwright Jr., of Bay Shore, and another man were leaving a party on Patton Avenue early Sunday when they were shot while in the street, according to Suffolk police. Birthwright was pronounced dead at the scene.

Following his death, Birthwright's cousin, Bill Ayers, started a GoFundMe page to help his family, including his parents, LaVerne Thomas and Mark Birthwright Sr.

According to Ayers, Birthwright is the grandson of John E. Thomas, who was the first black police officer in the Bay Shore/Brightwaters community. The bridge over the Southern State Parkway on 5th Avenue was dedicated in his honor.

The family has experienced their fair share of tragedy recently. In 2018, Ayer's mother and Birthwright's aunt, Vanessa Thomas, was struck by a car and killed on 5th Avenue. Beverly Thomas, who was the grandmother to the two men, died on Birthwright's 26th birthday July 16.

After many of his friends wanted to help the family, Ayer started the online fundraiser.

"The [GoFundMe] helps out tremendously by assisting with funds that have depleted from just laying our Nana to rest," Aywers told Patch. "The support of both friends and family on the GFM page have been amazing."

The goal is to raise $25,000 for the family. As of Wednesday, $17,708 had been raised.

In addition to the Bay Shore community, the fundraiser has circulated to several other local communities, including Amityville where Birthwright's uncle, Gordon Thomas, is the head coach of the Amityville Memorial High School boys basketball team.

"We are Bay Shore Strong and the Ayers, Cardenas, Thomas and Birthwright families are very appreciative of all the support from the community," Ayers told Patch. "There’s no place like home."

According to Ayers, Birthwright, who was also known as "Nuni" by his family and "Slimm Bank$" in the music world, "had a smile that could brighten any room."

The 6-foot, 5-inch Birthwright was a top basketball player in the Bay Shore PAL Summer League since the age of 7. He played basketball at Amityville High and on the AAU squad Team Underrated.

Birthwright's second love was music, and he recently was picked as an up-and-coming artist by Casanova and featured on the artist's mixtape.

"Mark also loved to spend quiet time fishing with close friends and family.vMark was always looking to laugh and have fun," Ayers said. "There’s so many memories, but I can recall him bringing me into his elementary school for VIP Day and his classmates thought I was in the WWF and Mark didn’t say a word!"