Peacekeeping community groups in Sacramento are calling for unity on Monday after a bloody weekend where three people were killed, including a 9-year-old girl, and so many other lives changed forever.
ABC10 spoke to a 14-year-old girl who was shot at on Saturday. She says this was the first time she's been shot at and she is sure it won't be the last because of violence in the city.
"We come together to denounce the senseless cowardly acts of this weekend, but then again we challenge our community to stand in unity and say enough is enough. Enough is enough!" said activist Berry Accius.
A coalition of violence intervention teams, led by the Black Child Legacy Campaign, says they are committing to 72 hours of action to reach families touched by violence.
“Right now, my life is in danger," said the 14-year-old girl who did not wish to be identified.
That girl’s 17-year-old sister and uncle were wounded in the shooting in the Strawberry Manor neighborhood on Saturday. She says she remembers a black car and gunfire when she dropped to the ground.
"I was crawling on the floor and I opened the door and we made sure everybody got in the house," she said.
She says it was the first time she's been fired at and it might not be the last because she feels powerless in stopping the violence.
"Right now, Sacramento is hot. It's just too hot. I can't say nothing because it's just life right now. I can't do nothing," she said.
But anti-violence organizers say the community must come together to support at-risk youth. They say before the coronavirus pandemic hit, they were successful at achieving zero youth homicides for two years through grassroots efforts. The groups are calling for community members to join their cause and elected officials to fund their work on the street level.
"Let's reimagine right now, together, how we can make change. We cannot make change and rebuild if we kill each other," Accius said.
Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg also joined in on the vigil, saddened by this weekend’s events.
In a press conference earlier on Monday, Steinberg noted $20 million of federal coronavirus relief funds is going to youth and workforce programs, and $2 million to the black child legacy campaign.
Steinberg also highlighted the city's imitative for $40 million annually to go community programs. That money, however, is tied into the “Strong Mayor” measure on November's ballot.
Continue the conversation with Van on Facebook.