My entire out-of-town family was visiting to celebrate my son’s first birthday in our new house. My sister and I walked around the corner to the grocery store for some last minute items. On the way home we were robbed at gunpoint, in the middle of the day, right on the tree-lined corner of my new block.
My mind raced: I imagined my son growing up without a mother…my sister and I being buried by our parents…would my sister use her black belt in martial arts?…so many lives changed forever in an instant. The young gunman wanted our purses and we handed them over; I even offered him the groceries! My sister and I shakily clung to each other when the gunman ran off in the other direction. We thanked our lucky start to be alive, and physically uninjured.
The trauma of that day still haunts me and my family, but it also propelled me to volunteer for my neighborhood association, where I helped create a safer and more connected community. Years later, I joined Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America as a volunteer leader, where I continue to help build safer neighborhoods today.