MIAMI (WSVN) - Father’s Day turned out to be a day of mourning and prayer for those calling for an end to gun violence across South Florida.
It was a difficult day for families who have lost loved ones to gun violence, so participants at rallies held in Miami-Dade and Broward counties made sure their voices were heard.
7News cameras captured coffins and hearses symbolically passing through the streets of Miami as a caravan of police officers and motorcycle groups rode together.
Northwest Miami-Dade resident Santonio Carter knows too well why these rallies are necessary. “Stop the senseless violence. Let the kids live,” he said.
Earlier this year, Carter lost his son, 6-year-old King Carter, after the boy was hit by a stray bullet near their home.
Heartbreaking stories like those of King and so many others is why people from Overtown’s Greater Bethel AME, Friendship Missionary Baptist Church and Mt. Calvary Missionary Baptist Church spent Father’s Day praying in the streets.
“There’s a great cry out, oh, God, that You would come down and help us to alleviate some of the problems and some of the gun violence that is happening all across this nation,” said a pastor as he led participants in prayer.
“We have to fight for our children, and that’s what this is about today,” said a concerned mother.
That fight is also happening in Broward County. At the Baptist Church of Piney Grove in Lauderdale Lakes, funeral directors from the Morticians Association were joined by Broward Sheriff Scott Israel to sponsor a Father’s Day crusade to make the area a safer, less violent place.
Funeral directors came from across the Sunshine State to take part in the Broward event. Multiple churches also participated.
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