Portraits of Gun Violence: Michael Hampson

If you've noticed one thing about this series: it should be that the death of the child has led to the mother becoming involved in the movement to end gun violence.

That is very true about Mari Bailey whose son, Michael Hampson was shot and killed in 2004.  Her son may have passed, but Mari keeps his memory alive.

Michael was shot and killed by someone who he thought was a friend.

Michael was attending culinary school that night — he dreamed of becoming a chef — and he was supposed to be in school until 10:30 p.m., but the teacher dismissed the class 30 minutes early. Michael drove to a friend’s house.

There were seven people at the house, including his friend’s mom. The mom wanted to buy a new TV, so Michael volunteered to take her to Wal-Mart since he was the only one with a car. While she was getting ready, her son — he was also Michael’s friend — became angry.

No one knows what set him off, but he pulled a gun and pointed it at everyone in the house. Eventually, the shooter aimed the gun at Michael’s chest. He was about a foot away when he pulled the trigger. The bullet went through my son’s chest and became lodged in a kitchen cabinet. Michael collapsed, but he wasn’t dead.

Unfortunately, everyone in the house panicked and instead of calling 911, they made up a story and decided to hide the gun. It was then that they finally called 911. I have no idea how long it took them to come up with the story and hide the gun, but as they sat there trying to cover up what had happened, Michael lay there, on a dirty kitchen floor, bleeding from his chest and mouth.

When they finally called 911, the caller said, very nonchalantly, “My homeboy’s been shot. Someone broke into the house and shot him.” Because it was a crime scene, the paramedics were not allowed in to help Michael. The police had to secure the scene.

Michael was taken to the trauma ICU at St. Joseph’s hospital where he was placed on life support. 
On the fourth day, the doctors started doing brain activity tests on Michael. He was pronounced brain dead at 3:13 p.m. on August 21, 2004. I worked with the Donor Network of Arizona to donate all of Michael’s organs, tissue, bones, corneas, skin — everything viable was donated to help save or improve the lives of more than 75 people.

Mari had to try and make sense of Michael’s death. She researched how to prevent gun violence and came across the National Million Mom March website. Mari wanted to stop another family from experiencing what She had experienced. Mari started the Greater Phoenix Million Mom March chapter a year after Michael was killed.

Anyone who knows Mari knows that she misses her son very much:

I miss hearing Michael’s voice. I miss his laughter. I miss his hugs and I miss his blue eyes. I miss him more than anything.

It definitely does not get easier. Though it has become easier to keep my feelings bottled up so I can, somehow, cope, day-in and day-out, the pain never goes away. Some days, the pain is so unbearable, you feel like it will kill you. If you are lucky — with a lot of time and grief work — the pain will become more gentle and that’s the best you can ever hope for.

Portraits of Gun Violence: Patrick McKinley

I'll let his mother tell you about her son.  This was filmed at an art exhibition of Patrick's art which contained works that his mother hadn't seen:


I think Patrick would want us to remember him, how he died, and do something about this situation from what Jeanette says.  Unlike Colin Goddard and Stephen Barton, Patrick didn't survive to fight on, which means we need to continue the work to end this problem.

We aren't doing anything other than swim in the blood of the victims since there is so much of it soaked in the land.

Ever-growing Tribute to Gun Violence Victims in America

Pretty short to do justice to this topic.

It's not "dancing on the graves/in the blood of" or any of your other bullshit excuses for not paying attention to the victims of gun violence since the families live with it.  This was shared to me by one of the victims pictured in it.  The families of the people who are pictured here are active in the movement to end gun violence.


I don't know if Denise Decker or Nancy Faber are in this, but there are many people who have been victims who are remembered by only a few.

The time is long past for action as the number on this list grows longer on a daily basis.

Here's the latest numbers:

Yet Another Tragedy Comitted with Firearms

Would someone potentially have gotten hurt, if firearms hadn't been available? Possibly, but firearms are more lethal than most other weapons, and they are too readily available. Had the aggressor had to rely on a bladed weapon, for example, it would seem far less likely that anyone would have been killed. Not to pretend that injuries are not also serious, but they're preferable to people being killed, like this.

From MSNBC.com andthe Chicago Tribune:

Officer checks out murder scene, finds stepson dead

By msnbc.com

Chicago police Sgt. Darwin Butler was working his midnight shift on Nov. 27, according to the Chicago Tribune, when a routine call came in: A victim had been shot while driving a white Chevrolet.
Butler drove his squad car to the scene, and briefly shined his flashlight on the driver's face, he told The Chicago Tribune. It was a young African-American man, unresponsive, with a bullet wound to the shoulder in a vehicle that looked vaguely familiar.
"I never looked at the person to be anyone that I knew because I see (gunshot victims) so often working the streets like that," Butler later said to The Tribune. "And my first thought was, 'Wow. Another person potentially lost their life.'"
Suddenly he heard a woman screaming, "That's my sister's boyfriend, Darius!", and it hit him: This was indeed his stepson, Darius Parish, 20, the boy he had raised since he was 8.
"I was shocked. I couldn't believe it. I had to look at him again," Butler told The Tribune.
Parish was home on Thanksgiving break from college when the shooting happened. Four others, including a baby, were in the car at the time. One other friend got shot in the arm, but no one else in the car was hurt, according to The Tribune.
No arrests have been made. A funeral was held on Monday in Chicago.
Efforts to reach Sgt. Butler by msnbc.com were not successful. An operator at his precinct said he was not expected in on Tuesday, but Butler told The Tribune his stepson's death has motivated him to improve his community even more.
"I'm going to keep fighting. I'm going to keep trying to make a difference," he said.
Read the full Chicago Tribune story here.