COLUMBUS, Ohio — For National Gun Violence Awareness Day, the Columbus Office of Violence Prevention held a vigil at City Hall to honor the lives lost to gun violence. So far this year, there have been 43 homicides in the city, 39 of which were due to gun violence.
"That one pound of metal and that stupid decision follows and chases and haunts families for the rest of their lives,” said Columbus City Council President Shannon Hardin.
"Every time we hear of a violent incident, it hurts our hearts and that's why we're here tonight, to speak to that trauma, to help people heal from that,” said Rena Shak, director of the Office of Violence Prevention.
At the vigil, city leaders also highlighted the work that needs to be done to steer youth in the community away from gun violence, recognizing the organizations actively working every day to do just that.
Eighteen-year-old Triandous Kelly said organizations like "We Are Linden" help keep kids and teens on the right track.
"Keep 'em just occupied so they don't have time to want to go steal a car or shoot a gun or anything of that nature,” Kelly said.
Kelly shared how it's impacted him personally over the last four years.
"Just kept me on the straight and narrow staying out of trouble, giving me things to put money in my pocket or events and activities to keep my mind and have more things to do,” Kelly said.
The city is also working to invest in programs striving to support youth in the community. Shak said they invested more than $20 million into these organizations this summer alone to address youth violence.
"In the hopes that we can prevent idle time on the part of our youth so that we are cutting down on some of those violent incidents,” Shak said.
It’s a community effort because everyone knows what’s at stake.
"Nobody wants to walk outside every morning or walk outside every night and have to look over their shoulder. We want to be able to go to school or go to work or go to the store and not have to worry about someone robbing us or killing us,” Kelly said.