Heartache turns to demands to stop senseless bloodshed at vigil for victims lost to gun violence

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Families, city and state leaders all came together Sunday to remember victims lost to gun violence in Chicago.

It was a moment to reflect on tragedies, they say, could have been prevented.

Loved ones filled the pews to remember the lives cut short, while calling on the end to the gun violence plaguing this city.

"It's important that we walk together through grief, through sorrow, through healing, and remind ourselves that we need each other," said Pastor Matt DeMateo, with New Life Centers of Little Village.

Their pictured smiles, placed at the front of the church, surrounded by those who they once loved as their surviving family and friends' hearts remain in ruins.

"I feel like a part of me is missing," said Lutrice Boyd, who lost a son to gun violence in 2012.

In 2012, Boyd saw her 21-year-old son, Frederick Giles' final moments alive.

"Very traumatizing. Um, I was in total shock to see my son lying on the streets like that," Boyd recalled.

These shattered lives were remembered Sunday night at Augustana Lutheran Church in Hyde Park for the 10th National Vigil for All Victims of Gun Violence, marking nearly a decade since the Sandy Hook school shooting.

That pain, shared with many families in Chicago, called on the end to the gun violence gripping the city.

"Tell me that we can't get something done in this state. We have to. It's the only right and moral thing," Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said.

As of Friday, according to CPD data, more than 3,300 people have been shot in Chicago so far this year. That is a 20% decline from the same time last year, police said.

One of those victims was Jezebel Perez, a young mother of two who was shot and killed in Little Village in August.

"And, I buried her at 22-years-old. And, so whether it's a 6-year-old girl, a 13-year-old boy, an 8-year-old girl, a 22-year-old young lady, all of these lives are tragically taken," Pastor DeMateo said.

It's a heartache, no one asked for that has now turned into demands to stop the senseless bloodshed.

"I hope no one gets that opportunity to walk in these shoes because they will never fit," Boyd.

Sunday would have been Jacki Sundheim's birthday. She was one of the victims who died in the July 4 mass shooting in Highland Park, Mayor Nancy Rotering said.