Chicago vigil marks Sandy Hook anniversary with local gun violence survivors
“If you are a direct victim of gun violence, you have a right to be heard,” said a grieving mother who has engaged in advocacy with people from Newtown, Connecticut.
Among hundreds of vigils across the United States marking the fifth anniversary of the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, one in Chicago included people deeply affected by gun violence in their own families and neighborhood.
“When we honor the Sandy Hook victims we also have to honor the resilience of the survivors,” said Maria Pike, whose 24-year-old son Ricky Pike was shot and killed in Chicago in August 2012, a few months before the violence at Sandy Hook. “My life changed completely the day he was murdered. He gave me a job to do.”
Over the past five years, she has engaged in advocacy on gun violence with people from Newtown, Connecticut, including a few of the parents whose children were among the 20 gunned down in the school that day along with six educators.
