CHICAGO — As a mother who lost a son to Chicago’s pervasive gun violence, Maria Pike was not shocked to learn that firearm-related deaths have spiked across the U.S. during the COVID-19 pandemic, becoming the leading cause of death for children and young adults.
“It does not surprise me at all, because Congress has denied us the right to protect our own children, which is unconscionable,” said Pike, 68, whose son Ricky, 24, was shot and killed while parking his car in the city’s Logan Square neighborhood in 2012.
“I was one of those clingy moms who didn’t want her son to move out of the house, but he wanted to be independent and live his own life; and two months later, he was shot multiple times and killed,” Pike said.
