SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WGGB/WSHM) - It’s been six years since Tamara Clark lost her life in a drive-by shooting on Oakland Street in Springfield. On Friday, her family held a memorial in her honor and they’re asking the community to speak up and help push for change.

We spoke with Tamara’s mother, Tanegla Clark. She said she hopes everyone can come together as a community, to advocate for laws that will close loopholes in drive-by shootings and help bring justice to families still waiting for answers, “six years, I haven’t heard nothing. I deserve some type of answers.”

Friday marked six years since Tamara Clark was shot and killed during a drive by shooting on Oakland Street in Springfield. To this day, Tamara’s family still doesn’t know who’s responsible for the crime and is still waiting on answers from police, “we’re living in a city where killers can just walk free, I don’t know who tamara’s killer is, he could be standing next to me and I wouldn’t know it,” Tanegla Clark said.

Western Mass News stopped by Friday’s memorial at the Valero Gas Station on Oakland Street and spoke with Tamara’s mother, Tangela Clark. She said more needs to be done not just for her family, but for others in Springfield still waiting for closure in unsolved homicide cases, “we have to have the police department fight harder to solve these crimes and I’m not the only parent that’s suffering here.”

Tangela said surveillance video captured the vehicle believed to be involved in her daughter’s murder. She said it was a rental car, rented by someone else, and because of current laws, that renter can’t be charged, even if they knew who the shooter was.

Clark said she wants Massachusetts to consider a law similar to one passed in California, which can hold a driver or vehicle owner accountable if they knowingly allow someone to bring a gun into the vehicle or fire from it, “that law should be on the books the state has so many gun laws here and that one is a no brainer, and I think it’s a loophole when it comes to drive by shootings, no one says anything they can’t prosecute anyone.”

She said in her daughter’s case, investigators had the renter of that vehicle but they wouldn’t say who they rented it for. Tangela said she believes a law like California’s could pressure witnesses to come forward and help families finally get answers, “if you know something, say something. Because if it was your loved one or your child, you would want someone to say something you want those people caught and prosecuted.”

Western Mass News reached out to the Hampden District Attorney’s office as well as the mayor’s office for comment on this matter and an update on the case, but we have not yet heard back. If you’d like to help Tangela, you can sign her change.org petition that can be found here.

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