Members of at least 17 families were in Vander Veer Park Sunday, June 25, for the 2nd annual Dwight T. McCall Jr.’s Run Against Violence.
The event is in honor of 23-year-old Dwight McCall, a Quad City native who died of gun violence in 2012.
"(Gun violence) is hurting us, it’s hurting our community. It’s not only hurting just our loved ones who were shot and killed but what about the ones who are behind, (the ones who) pulled that trigger and their families that will never see them again,” said Ebonie Willmington, McCall's sister, and organizer of the run.
Last year about 50 people joined in the run, that number has more than tripled this year.
"It should be growing because of support, but to me it’s growing because we are loosing more and more people," says Yvette Jackson, who took turns holding her mother's ashes with her sister December.
"She’s definitely here. She would be out here helping and passing out water... for the kids, she was really within our community," says Jackson.
The group collectively walked 218 laps around Vander Veer Park