WACO, Texas — In a stand of unity and a cry for peace, McLennan County Commissioner Patricia Chisolm-Miller held a press conference with the mothers of those who have lost sons to gun violence.
The press conference happened Friday at the McLennan County Courthouse on the first floor in the Commissioners Courtroom.
“Each of us are connected, because a reaction to an action joined us to a club that we had no desire to be a part of," said Pamela Degrate, grandmother of Calveon Nichols, who was killed in January 2022.
According to the Waco Police Department, there were 1,894-gun discharges related to crime in the City of Waco in 2021. Further, 12 of the 17 homicides in Waco in 2021 involved a gun. A number the city had not reached since 1994.”
"I don’t know how to let it go, said Paula Peoples, mother of Marlon Peoples, who was killed 22-years ago. “It hurts so much. I had a son, and now you're telling me he's dead and gone."
"I still can’t believe my daughter is gone forever," said Freda Brown, mother of Sherrell Carter who was shot and killed in February 2019.
“I don’t want any mother to ever feel how I feel. It is horrible,” said Catondra Johnson, mother of Bryan Johnson, who was shot and killed in November 2020.
With the recent rise in gun violence and deaths in Waco and McLennan County, commissioner Chisolm-Miller said a unified call for peace is necessary.
“For far too long gun violence resulting in death has plagued our community. The recent uptick in activity is alarming and unnerving. It has been often said, that, the hardest thing a parent can do, is bury their child. I stand with the moms who have lost a son and I stand with the families who have lost a loved one and call for peace,” said Chisolm-Miller.
“When you are taking the lives of someone else, you are destroying families, said Sheila Hilliard. Hillard’s son Emuel Bowers was also shot and killed.
Twelve or the 17 homicides in 2021 involved a gun, according to Waco Police.
"I wanted them to say someone else child. Someone else period. I just didn’t want it to be mine,” said Vanessa Lee, whose son Donch’e Webb was killed in Houston.
Gun violence has now left each of these women with a sorrow no mother should feel.
"I miss him dearly. I cry every day for my baby. It has affected me mentally to the point I can’t sleep at night,” said Marquita Watkins, mother of Damon Morgan Jr. who was killed in April 2021. “It’ is breaking me down from the inside out."