Volunteers March To End The Violence

CHICAGO (CBS) – Anti-violence activists walked door to door Friday night with a clear message.

About 40 volunteers -- many were parents with their own stories of sorrow -- gathered near 65th and Mozart. They put their feet to the pavement trying to stir someone's memory about what happened to teens like Marvis Brown Jr., who was shot while standing on his porch with his dad.

Deshun Winfert was shot while sitting in a car with his father. Sixteen-year-old Deonte Malone were gunned down in December.

"Someone shot him on California. And he ran. He fell right here on this corner on the tree," Natalya Malone, the victim's mother, told CBS 2's Pamela Jones.

A neighbor remembers the fear, but she and many others say they want to help make life safer on their block.

As the volunteers passed abandoned buildings, they hoped their personal approach would heal families' lives shattered by the violence.

"It makes no sense for us to keep on walking down the street saying the violence needs to stop. We know the violence needs to stop," Dawn Valenti of United for a Cause said.

Part of the group's goal was to raise awareness that at least eight young people have been shot and killed near 65th and Mozart in the last six months.

Residents say they've found guns in their yards and they're scared.