Almost a week after the shooting that resulted in the deaths of 12-year-old Zyion Charles and 15-year-old Cameron Jackson, a group of faith leaders in Atlanta gathered near the scene to mourn, pray, and demand change.
“Let’s save our city, let’s save our youth,” said Rev. Darryl Winston of Greater Works Ministries, according to Fox 5 Atlanta.
The group hopes the frustration felt by the people of Atlanta over young people being killed by gun violence would result in action and change. At the gathering, people lit candles and held signs demanding justice as the suspected shooters still haven’t been apprehended.
“All of us must get involved,” said Rev. Winston. “The business community, faith community, local and state government. This is our problem. Our children are being affected.”
“They’re hanging out here at Atlantic Station and other areas after they’re dropped off by their parents without structured recreation,” said Bishop Dexter Jackson. “Then creating their own recreation is resulting in the things that we’re seeing happening.”
“Parents are saying that they’re calling, and they can’t get help,” the bishop said. “We want to be that bridge that will connect the parents to resources.”
The day after the gathering, Laila Harris, a 15-year-old girl, was shot and killed at a high school party in Atlanta, continuing the worsening pattern of children being victims to gun violence in the city.
Sgt. Julia Issac said at a news conference that the shooter had been kicked out of the party earlier that night, and later “came back with an accomplice, and he shot up the location.”
When the police arrived, hundreds of kids fled the scene. Issac said that investigators do not think Harris was the shooter’s intended target.
This year, Atlanta has seen a sharp rise in the number of children and teenagers killed by gun violence.
“In 2021, more than two dozen children and teenagers were killed by gun violence in metro Atlanta and several others were injured. That violence has continued in 2022,” the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. “As of Dec. 4, there have been at least 71 children under the age of 18 shot. Of them at least 37 have died.”