DAYTON, Ohio — Recent mass shootings around the country has one group in Ohio calling for action against gun violence.
For the first time in front of a crowd, Donita Cosey shared what she went through the day she survived the 2019 Dayton mass shooting. “I’m, to this day, not sure if he thought he shot me, but as he passed me, all I remember is he was shooting people, people were running, people were screaming,” said Cosey.
She and her fiancé Dion Green survived, but her father-in-law was one of nine who was shot and killed in the Oregon District.
She says each mass shooting is a reminder of that night.
“It opens that wound all over again, and you begin to question, why not me, how did I survive, when my father-in-law, who was in arm’s reach of me, was shot four times in the back,” Cosey said. “We have to continue to fight to make this stop.”
That’s why she joined the group “Moms Demand Action” in calling for an end to gun violence. At a rally Friday, they called for action as many times as there are victims from the most recent mass shootings.
They did it dressed in orange. According to the group, that first began in honor of Hadiya Pendleton. She was shot and killed on a playground in Chicago in 2013. Her friends honored her by wearing orange, the color hunters wear to protect themselves.
It’s now part of a national awareness campaign that Dayton and Montgomery County leaders took part in.
“The Board of County Commissioners of Montgomery County Ohio does hereby proclaim June 3rd 2022, as Gun Violence Awareness Day, we should do this every single day,” said Montgomery County Commissioner Judy Dodge.
It’s all in effort to try and prevent another mass shooting.
For more information on “Moms Demand Action” click here.
