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WEKU
WEKU
Cara Anthony

When gun violence ends young lives, these men prepare the graves

A special section called "Baby Land" at Sunset Gardens of Memory cemetery in Millstadt, Illinois, was created for the graves of children. (Jocelyn Belt)

MILLSTADT, Ill. — It was a late Friday afternoon when a team of men approached a tiny pink casket. One wiped his brow. Another stepped away to smoke a cigarette. Then, with calloused hands, they gently lowered the child's body into the ground.

Earlier that day, the groundskeepers at Sunset Gardens of Memory had dug the small grave up on a hill in a special section of this cemetery near St. Louis. It was for a 3-year-old girl killed by a stray bullet.

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