Concerned Community Rallies To End Epidemic Of Gun Violence In Camden
By Matt Rivers
CAMDEN, N.J., (CBS) – A concerned community comes together and rallies to end an epidemic of gun violence.
The show of support Friday was spurred by a man who was killed earlier this year on the streets of Camden.
Team Mark, Team Pete, Team Freddy. All three young men, all three shot to death in the last year.
Friday afternoon, family and friends marched through Camden's streets, saying enough is enough.
"They chased him down for a couple of blocks and they shot him in his back."
For Cary Sol Devila, the march was personal.
Her son Pete was killed on Lincoln Avenue. A member of the community actually spoke up and helped police locate and arrest the killer. But speaking out against violence like that in Camden is certainly the exception to the rule.
A rule that applies to the case of Mark Anthony Gonzalez, killed last June, his killer still on the loose.
(Reporter:) "How are you feeling right now?"
"In pain. It's not right," the victim's mother Margaret Santiago said.
She says there were several witnesses to the crime, but no one is willing to talk to police.
"They need to come out and talk, if they see who shot my baby, come out and talk," Santiago said.
"They're actually protecting the killers because they're letting them run the streets and do it again. Today it's me, tomorrow it could be you, tomorrow it could be anyone," Cary Sol Devila said.
But Friday's march against violence isn't the first and it won't be the last. So are they even helping?
Organizers say yes, if only to present the other side of a violent city.
"So that's saying this community is ready, these people are sick and tired," march organizer Angel Cordero said.
People here say change comes slowly, but the outcome is worth the wait and the struggle.
