CINCINNATI — Nearly 40,000 people die every year in the U.S. due to gun violence, according to data from the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence.
Photographs, clothing, and other personal belongings are the mementos left behind, and the items their loved ones hold on to, to keep their memory alive. Families in Cincinnati can loan some of those items to be displayed in a national memorial.
What You Need To Know
- On Friday, Cincinnati leaders held a press conference to discuss details about the Gun Violence Memorial Project collection
- There are two collection sites to drop off items to honor lives lost to gun violence
- Tabitha Dornal dropped off a crown to honor her son who was shot and killed in 2016
- The crown is among hundreds of other items that will be displayed in the Glass House Memorial at the National Building Museum in Washington D.C.
She-ar Dornal meant the world to his mother, Tabitha Dornal.
“He was a great kid,” said Dornal. “I raised him up in a football family from teeny bop all the way up to age 13.”
Nothing could prepare her for the day she got the call that her son had died. He passed away in 2016 at just 18 years old.
“I was told he was playing basketball and got into an altercation with some guy who does not live in our neighborhood,” she said. “Not from downtown. And this guy had a gun and shot him.”
For the past six years, Dornal has worked to raise awareness around gun violence in her city, hoping to put an end it.
“I’m willing to do whatever it takes for my son and to keep advocating in the community,” she said.
Friday, she walked into a Cincinnati recreation center to offer her contribution to the National Gun Violence Memorial Project. It was a tiny crown in remembrance of her son.
“He stay kind of fancy and I think this is very beautiful to go on a trip to Washington D.C.,” she said.
The crown will be placed in a white brick box and sealed with glass. It’ll be among hundreds of other items displayed in the Glass House Memorial at the National Building Museum in Washington D.C. The items will be there until May 2023, after which the items will be returned. It’s all to honor the lives lost to gun violence.
“We need to have a picture on this problem of gun violence,” she said. “We’re not going to get use to it and it’s not going to go away.”
If you’ve lost a loved one or friend, city leaders encourage Cincinnati residents to drop off a remembrance item at one of the locations.
The Lincoln Recreation Center is collecting items from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Friday. The Hirsch Recreation Center is collecting items from noon until 4 p.m. Saturday.
