Chicago pastor 'walks' to DC demanding action on violence

A Chicago pastor is back home after walking through several cities to Washington, D.C., to call on President Biden to do more to address violence.

"Every citizen agreed with our position that we need our president to sign an executive order to declare American violence a public health crises," said Pastor Anthony Williams.

Williams led the push in Illinois for violence to be viewed as a public health crisis. Governor Pritzker signed a bill last April directing more resources to communities impacted by violence.

Williams is fueled by the loss of his son. Nehemiah Williams was shot and killed a few years ago. He said his son was on his mind as he arrived in D.C. on Independence Day.

"What we did is we let the president know and the nation know our theme was we want to live. And we want to live safe healthy and sound. We can't continue to live like this," he said.

Across the country 233 people were killed and 618 were injured in shootings over the holiday weekend. That's down from 314 killed, 751 injured in shootings over last year's Fourth of July weekend. That's according to the Gun Violence Archive, which collects data on gun violence incidents.

Williams said reducing violence is critical to this country's future just as much as tackling the pandemic. And he's hoping Biden will take action.

"He continues to say that America is back. America will never be back with this continuous behavior," he said.