ST. LOUIS — According to a National Library of Medicine research study, children in the U.S. are more likely to die from gun violence than in any other high-income country.
In St. Louis, Jeanette Culpepper founded Families Advocating Safe Streets after her own son was murdered at 22 years old.
Culpepper died in October of 2021, but on Sunday a balloon release honored her and her valued work she brought to the movement.
“I made a promise to my grandmother that I wouldn’t let her legacy die,” Asia Johnson, Culpepper's granddaughter, said.
Johnson released the balloons with loved ones for her grandmother.
“She would go out into the community, raise awareness for victims of homicide and she did that for 30 years,” Johnson said.
But Culpepper was more than a grandmother in the community.
She was one of the key faces in the push to stop gun violence around children.
“I’m a child of a homicide victim,” Johnson said.
Johnson lost her own dad to gun violence in 1991 when he was 22 years old.
It’s how her grandmother first started her work, forming the organization.
“We have to be more aware of the safety of guns, of how to disarm guns, where to hold guns, where not to hold guns, and how to teach our kids not to touch guns,” Johnson said.
Even 31 years later, children in St. Louis are still too familiar with gun violence.
Three children ages 16 and under were shot in St. Louis this weekend alone.
“Every year, the totals continue to go up and we’re just trying to find ways to help stop some of the crime that’s out here,” Sharon Webb, who is a member of the organization, said.
It is why moms like Webb and Shelia Price are a part of the organization, too.
“Our children’s murders have not been solved," Webb said.
They are helping others with a pain they both know too well.
"We are trying our best as mothers who lost their children to gun violence to make a difference," Price said.
It is another commitment to protect the people of St. Louis similar to how Culpepper committed to the moment she had to bury her own son.
“She was a strong woman, she knocked on doors, she never backed down," Johnson said. "When she was told, 'Miss Culpepper, maybe next week,' she never backed down."
Culpepper's granddaughter and Families Advocating Safe Streets plan to hold the same candlelight vigil for people who die from gun violence, which Culpepper held annually.
Editor's note: An earlier version of this story misstated the name of the organization Jeanette Culpepper founded.
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