The last time someone shot and killed a young black man near McCoy Park, Nicole Crain's neighbors stayed away from the city green space.



Tuesday, a day after someone fired 10 shots, killing a 24-year-old one block away, Crain decided this time she wasn't going to let the violence take her park.



She planned to spend her lunch break at McCoy with her children, eating sandwiches and playing games at Portland Parks & Recreation Summer Free For All.



The mother of seven, including two young African-American boys, considered it an important step in reclaiming the neighborhood from people who are unworthy of it.



"They will not scare me away," Crain wrote on Facebook just before lunch. "I am here, and I will stand and fight for my right to live in a community."



It didn't work out that way.



When Crain arrived, a note from the city said the lunch program was canceled 'due to recent events around McCoy Park." The sign directed residents to the Charles Jordan Community Center five blocks away, where volunteers were handing out lunches and free books.



Crain looked around at the dozen Latino and African families who were still waiting. The signs were all in English.



"This is our community," she said. "We need to be out here. We can't live in fear. We can't hide away. This is ours."



The families continued waiting until a pudgy 7-year-old girl ran toward the picnic benches and hollered, "The park is closed."



"Why?" one mother asked.



"Because they're killing people in here," the 7-year-old said.



The city moved the program "strictly as a precaution in light of yesterday's incident," said Parks spokesman Mark Ross. Staff will revaluate this week but plan to keep the program at Charles Jordan for another day or two.



The 7-year-old girl and a dozen others walked and sweated their way to the community center. There, kids took turns on a seesaw while parents and babysitters shared stories about the shooting. Some had heard the gunshots. Others knew the victim's family.



A tower of to-go boxes wobbled on top of the trash can, its opening too narrow to fit a box through. The boxes eventually toppled and scattered across the grass.



A city crew drove into the park to pick up the boxes. A handful of kids abandoned the seesaw to help stuff the boxes into bags. Then their guardians said it was time to go home.



As families trudged back, three 10-year-old boys staged their own chlorine-scented revolution.



Raysean Seamster, Jae'maurion Warren and Demingo Gonzales all knew about the shooting. They stood at the line of police tape Monday night, watching as officers documented evidence. The Rosa Parks Elementary students were scared to go to the park Tuesday afternoon.



"But it's too hot," Demingo said then bound into the park's water fountain splash pad.



"It's almost 100 degrees," Raysean added then jumped in, too.



They leapfrogged. They crab-walked. They pretended to be penguins, bears and Superman.



"Fight the water!" Jae'maurion screamed, diving into the stream.



The longer they played, the more kids gathered around them. Someone turned on a radio, Tupac's "Keep Ya Head Up" blasting loud. The boys collapsed in drenched clothing.



The park was still theirs.





-- Casey Parks