East St. Louis remembers gun violence victims on National awareness day
- laritarice
- Dec 13, 2025
- 2 min read
Published: Jun. 6, 2025 at 10:42 PM CDT
ST. LOUIS, Mo. (First Alert 4) - On National Gun Violence Awareness Day, a day meant to recognize people shot and killed every day in our country, people in East St. Louis gathered wearing the color orange.
“When I found out, it was devastating. My oldest son had called me and said he was in the hospital,” said Pastor Tommy Smith.
Pastor Smith says he got the news that his 16-year-old son, Dontez Smith, was shot while he was in church. Dontez later died from his injuries.
“I miss him a lot. I thought about him yesterday. I keep seeing his face every time I see different kids, and I think about him. What we could have done together, what we could have accomplished together,” said Pastor Smith.
Smith spoke at the Wear Orange event.
“It’s bringing together families and those that have been impacted by losing a loved one to gun violence, some of them have been directly affected, and it provides hope,” said Larita Rice-Barnes.
Rice-Barnes is the organizer of the event and Executive Director of Metro East Organizing Coalition.
“People feel like you have forgotten their loved ones and so when they come and they see the faces on the banner, they know that someone or some organization is keeping the memory of their loved one alive,” said Rice-Barnes.
In a perfect world, gun violence would just go away. To Anthony Vison, he says more love would help.
“What would combat it is to move from hate to love. How do we get people to love themselves enough to where it boils over to loving others,” said Vison.
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