UPPER MARLBORO, Md. — An annual basketball tournament was played at Largo High School Sunday in honor of an 18-year-old whose killer has never been found. The "Hoops Against Gun Violence Charity Basketball Game" is played in remembrance of Ayana McAllister who was shot and killed when she was home from college. Her mother, Tyreese McAllister, said Ayana was hanging out with her sister and some friends not too far from home when someone started shooting. She said a bullet hit Ayana and later killed her.
"I operate currently with a broken heart," Tyreese McAllister said. "I don't think my heart will ever be mended. But it's almost like every day is shattered even more."
From her perspective as a mother of a gun violence victim and a crisis therapist, she concurs with other leaders who have termed gun violence a public health crisis.
Tyreese McAllister also works with Moms Demand Action to push for legislative change, namely with restricting access to guns. She said it will take a village banding together to help cure the societal issues that lead to this violence — but she's ready to work if others will join her.