Chicago

Neighbors March on South Side Asking Shooters to ‘Put the Guns Down'

As police send out more officers onto the streets this weekend — neighbors on the South Side went door to door handing out fliers asking people to put the guns down.

They marched from St. Sabina Church through the Auburn Gresham neighborhood pleading to put the guns down and turn in the criminals who randomly shoot people.

Rev. Micheal Pfleger led the march to the scene of a recent shooting.

“To be thinking you’re comfortable in your home and then a bullet comes through your house,” one woman said.

Neighbors welcomed the march, some lost family to shootings.

“That’s the call you never want to get,” Wateka Kleinpeter, whose grandsons were shot, said.

Her two grandsons were shot walking from her home after bringing her groceries.

"One died," she said. "They were 23 and 25. The other one that’s surviving, he’s having a hard time because he saw his brother die."

A student from the Parkland Florida school shooting was in attendance supporting Chicago students.

“They have been doing these marches long before February 14, and long before the students of my school began speaking out,” Aalayah Eastmond said.

They march asking for help from neighbors here and all across Chicago.

“People will constantly say how about you march in your own neighborhoods and like tell people to stop," Chicago student Prevail Bonga said. "We are doing this. They come every Friday night to do stuff like this."

Neighbors say they do what they can.

"We just have to stay prayerful and get your children on the right track," one mother told NBC 5. "Teaching them the right things because this is sad. We just have to get better at what we’re doing."

If you don’t want to call police — the marchers ask anyone who knows the shooters or someone selling guns to anonymously call them.

The number for St. Sabina's is 773-483-4300.

Contact Us