ANN ARBOR, Mich. (WXYZ) — Washtenaw County is seeing an unusually high rate of murders this year.
According to the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office, there have been 14 homicides in the county in 2023. Two of them occurred during the same incident.
Of those 14 homicides, 10 have occurred since June 1.
Wednesday night, the Ypsilanti community and beyond brought people together to talk about the violence.
At least four families of victims who were part of those statistics came out to the event. They are sick of the bloodshed and they don't want to see any more mothers bury their children.
"You're with family. You're with family," said Shannon McFall, a well-known podcaster in the area.
McFall helped organized the event, which he says came together rather quickly.
Prospect Park in Ypsilanti was the site of a lot of pain Wednesday night.
The community gathered and grieved the loss of 14 lives lost since the start of the year in Washetnaw County.
Shade Abdullah attended for her baby brother Tyrese Burks.
According to police, 20-year-old Burks was shot and killed at an apartment complex in Ypsilanti Township.
"People don't realize how many families are actually affected by these deaths," Abdullah said. "It's real grief, like my mom really lost her youngest child."
Three teenagers were hurt in the same shooting and one died, according to police. They were to Kadessa Anderson's sons.
"The gun violence needs to stop. It really does, and protect your babies," Anderson said.
Anderson's son Dallas Williams was only 16. His two surviving brothers Cater and Travis are 14 and 19 years old.
"It's enough. Too many young men are dying. I feel as though there needs to be more activities that bring these children in, bring them more positive mindset, more than the negative that they are seeing. We got to come together," Dazmia Roberts, Dallas' cousin, said.
"If we can have an applause for the families who are here and who weren't able to attend," McFall said as he addressed the crowd. "We appreciate your courage."
One of the moms missing from the mix is Morgan Gregory. She lives in Alabama, but she says her son Jason was shot and killed when he was driving on I-94 in Lima Township.
"Had I known, I probably would have made a trip to be there today. It's difficult because most people don't understand," Gregory said.
According to Washtenaw County court documents, police arrested 16-year-old Kendall Newbern for Jason's murder.
His motive is unclear, but the open murder charged was also paired with a robbery charge.
"I really don't know what happened to my son. I don't know how everything happened. One minute he was fine and 15 minutes later, he shot and killed," Gregory saeid.
She says Jason was just visiting Ann Arbor to look at apprenticeships. He wanted to be an electrician.
Gregory says he was special and goal-oriented. He died just one week after his 18th birthday.
Every day, these mothers wake up with a pain in their chest and hole in their lives.
Organizers brought them out so they could release some of that and lean on their community.
Wendy Lewis lost her son Jermain McClendon-Denzmore on Father's Day. He was shot and killed by who she describes as a friend of McClendon-Denzmore's girlfriend.
He was set to turn 40 on July 21.
Lewis says there needs to be more mental health support in the community, so it doesn't have to come to this.
"I try to teach my sons to handle their emotions, like don't act before you think, think before you act. And a lot of these kids don't know how to do that," Lewis said.
The event was more of a space to vent, but organizers wanted to discuss more solutions. McFall said they did extend invites to local and state law enforcement but none showed. However, Washetnaw County Prosecutor Eli Savit was in attendance.
