Sunday marked two years since 20-year-old Adam Lanza shot and killed 20 children and six teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, before turning his gun on himself. For the loved ones of gun violence victims across America, the anniversary of the tragedy serves as a grim reminder of how little has changed since then.
On Thursday evening, dozens of family members grieving the loss of relatives who died in shootings, along with advocates for stricter gun laws, gathered at Roosevelt University in Chicago for a vigil memorializing both the Sandy Hook victims and victims of gun violence in their own city. The Cook County medical examiner’s office has reported 406 homicides, many of them due to shootings, in Chicago this year.
Speaking before the packed room, Beti Guevara, who teaches science classes at the Barreto Boys & Girls Club in the city’s Humboldt Park neighborhood, said she keeps five bullet casings she found on the sidewalk one day while walking around her community as a daily reminder of the importance of her work.
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