Peoria’s Mother’s Against Guns founder Tonya Williams called on resident mothers to take to the streets.
Williams believes now is the time for mothers to take a stand and start a conversation with area youth. She wants offenders to know that violence is not only hurting them but their moms.
“That person who is harmed may have a family, may have children,” Williams said. “And they have to decide at this point when you pull that trigger, do you want these kids to be fatherless, or motherless? Or do you want their mother to feel this pain? Because at any turn you might end up feeling the same pain or your mother feeling the same pain, no one is exempt.”
Williams wants people to know it’s not just about you and your anger, but that those involved who could be harmed have families.
One mother can relate as her son’s murder from May 2020 is still unsolved. Stacey Johnson-King wants the younger generations to gain some insight from Mother’s Against Guns as city violence is getting out of hand.
“Today, [July 31] another young African American male was found dead on [West] Latrobe from a gunshot wound,” Johnson-King said. “No one knows how he got there and how it happened. We just want to bring awareness to the gun violence killing our city and our youth.”
Johnson-King’s son, Percy King IV, was killed from gun violence. She wants to see the city, mayor, police chief, and detectives do a little more to stop these shootings.
“We just want them to do a little extra work, extra footwork to get out there and find who’s killing our children,” Johnson-King said.
Around 40 to 50 people were in attendance walking over two miles. The march route led from Carver Center to Logan Park. Mother’s Against Guns will march again Saturday, Aug. 8 at 4:30. The group’s meeting spot will be at Glen Oak Park.
