One QCA community is trying to stop the violence. Residents got together at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center in Rock Island to share their stories of loss to learn from them and prevent other families from losing loved ones too soon.
"It hurts daily, it's not a day you don't think about your loved one and what they meant to you, and what would it be like right now if you could just call and say, ‘Hey what are you doing?'" one speaker says.
Dozens of families gathered to share their stories of love and loss.
"It's a heartache and it's a pain that's unimaginable," Proactive Co-Founder Michael Collier says.
Collier co-founded the anti-violence advocacy group out of his own personal tragedy. He lost his young nephew and cousin and wishes he could've done more for them.
"I saw him 30 minutes before he passed," Collier says, "I could've been more proactive and got out and really talked to him."
Collier is not alone. Kel and Sylvia Branigan lost their 21-year old son, Kelton Trice in 2008.
"It's like a pain you can never get rid of," Kel Branigan says, "You can never get used to it, it's just the pain that's life-everlasting."
Tammy Nimmers' only son, Darvelle, was killed at a New Year's party in 2011. He was 20 years old.
"He had goals, and he wanted to be somebody one day, and somebody took that away from him," Nimmers says.
Collier says the key to stopping this is communication. He regularly gives out his number to people in the community, willing to mediate arguments, before a misunderstanding turns into something more.
"If they have a problem, strive more towards positive talking, constructive talking, letting them know it isn't even worth it," Collier says.
That's why they're getting together to show that even though their stories may fade out of the public eye, these deaths stay with these families forever.
"They tend to forget about the violence, but it's here," Collier says.
"It's here and you cannot forget about it because it could be one of your relatives and one of your loved ones next," he says.
