WASHINGTON -- A violent night in D.C. pushes the city's homicide numbers to a grim milestone.
Three men were shot and killed between 8 p.m. Monday night, and about 2 a.m. on Tuesday. All three were shot in Northeast, D.C.
This year's homicide count is now 119. Compared to 116 homicides from last year. And it's only in September.
Janice Park met a grieving mother who doesn't have all the answers, but she's doing her best to try to end gun violence. WUSA9 wanted to get Tyreese McAllister's unfiltered view on this timely subject.
Here's what she had to say:
"I'm Tyreese McAllister, the mother of Ayana McAllister, and on March 21st, Ayana was killed in a homicide in Washington, D.C. Someone off in a distance decided to shoot a gun at a crowd of young people, she was hit and died the next day after five hours of surgery. We have found ourselves at 119 homicides. We have four months to go this is a huge problem. I know much of the violence is happening in Wards 7 and 8. As those numbers increase more and more people getting killed. It broke my heart that a 10-year-old get killed while getting ice cream. But we have to stop it together. It shouldn't be us against police, or police against the community. A win-win situation. For people that are gun owners, how to secure your gun safely. And people are stealing guns and guns are not reported stolen, you have extra weapons on the street. We want do things that eradicate wreckless people getting their hands on guns and harming people".
The McAllister family is all about action when it comes to ending gun violence.
They spend their time mentoring kids, providing scholarships. This Saturday at the Galilee Baptist Church in Suitland, Md., they will host an event to get people involved.The event will be from 10 a.m. to noon.
They want to teach people how to testify at legislative hearings, and how to contacted elected officials and the media.
