SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Maria Pike found her calling after her son Ricky was shot and killed in Chicago’s Logan Square neighborhood in August 2012.
She became an advocate for a better support system for grieving families, which is why she and hundreds of other relatives of victims of violence came to the Illinois capital on Wednesday to push legislators to invest in community-based efforts to combat street violence that would serve as alternatives to traditional law-and-order methods.
“I want them to see us,” said Maria Pike in a ballroom at a downtown Springfield hotel, where activists were joined by several state legislators. “Those survivors are in pain. They want answers and solved cases, right? But they also have other needs.”
