Gun stories in Chicago are often reduced to statistics. After the media moves on, loved ones are left picking up the pieces.
The Trace is a nonprofit news outlet covering gun violence in America. This fall, they ran a series of workshops with seven people in Chicago who had lost family or friends to gun violence as part of The Trace's Survivor Storytelling Network.
Led by project manager Crystal L. Paul, the survivors worked with The Trace to write essays about their experiences, and Trace staffers then reported stories based on their concerns.
Click the player above to hear from a few of the participants, and read more about their stories below.
Jessica's sister Juanita and brother Rodney were shot and killed by a neighbor 25 years ago. But it took filing a Freedom of Information Act request before she started to get the full story.
Juan's best friend Junior had to be transferred between hospitals after he was shot in 2012. Juan believes that if a trauma center had been closer, his friend might still be alive.
Estela Díaz (Akilah Townsend for The Trace)
When Estela's son Zadkiel was shot and killed, she wasn't allowed to touch his body as police investigated. She didn't have a chance to say goodbye until he was in the funeral home 10 days later.
After her son Jacob was killed in Little Village in 2019, Melinda became active pushing for change in the neighborhood.
Corniki's son Fontaine, who was killed in 2017, had been rocked by his own loss two years earlier. Corniki is trying to break these cycles by starting a support group in North Lawndale.
Delphine lost two children to shootings 20 years apart. But while her daughter Tyesa's shooting in Gold Coast was covered in the media for months, her son Tyler's death in south suburban Hazel Crest received little attention.
Tamika lost her sister Tyesa and her brother Tyler in separate shootings. Now a correctional officer, Tamika sees the ways people end up on either side of a gun.
