It’s been 20 years since the death of 18-year-old TyRon Lewis in St. Petersburg. Now a group is unofficially renaming a street after him.

  • TyRon Lewis killed by police in 1996
  • Shooting sparked riots in St. Pete
  • Group unofficially named street after him Monday

About two dozen people marched from The Uhuru house Monday night. The group marched to honor Lewis, who was shot and killed by St. Petersburg Police Officer Jim Knight 20 years ago.   

Lewis' death and a grand jury decision not to indict the officer sparked riots in 1996.

Monday night their chants didn’t sound quite like they did in 1996 but their message is still the same.

Lewis’ mother got to speak out in her son’s memory. “It’s killing me but still I try to be an end. I’ll never get over it. Never,” she said. “Any mother, all the mothers that has a child that died, you’ll never get over it.”

Omali Yeshitela knows firsthand how serious the riots were 20 years ago because he was right in the middle of the chaos.

“I was in that building that we just left from when the St. Petersburg Police Department, accompanied by at least 3,300 law enforcement agencies throughout the state and throughout this area, attacked that building. They used all the tear gas in the city of St. Petersburg on that building,” he said.

Sights and sounds that he said will forever be etched in his memory.

But there’s another sound he wants the people in this community to hear. The sound of a new street sign they erected.

The group unofficially renamed 18th Avenue South TyRon Lewis Avenue. It’s at the intersection of 16th Street South and 18th Avenue South in St. Petersburg.

“The city didn’t do it. The city wouldn’t do it. The city doesn’t even recognize any value in the fact that he died,” Yeshitela said.

But is it enough to help this community heal? The group is hoping the sign and the march will at the very least impact this community.

City officials said the group didn’t go through the proper channels to change the name of the street but officials were aware of the group’s plan. Officials said they wanted to see exactly what the group did at the march. No word yet if that sign will remain at that intersection.


A man holds up the unofficial street sign for TyRon Lewis Ave. Monday in St. Pete. (Saundra Weathers, Staff)