DES MOINES, Iowa — Nicole Sanders is sharing her story with the hopes that it’ll raise awareness of the need for an end to senseless gun violence.
Sanders’s son, Richard Lewis, was shot and killed at a party in Des Moines in 2008.
“He loved poetry,” Sanders said. “He really wasn't much of a talker, but he could communicate through his poetry: his rap.”
In 2023 her grandson Rashad Carr, who was just 16 at the time, was also shot and killed.
Rashad was attending school at Starts Right Here, an education center for at-risk youth, when a gunman opened fire, killing him and 18-year-old Gionni Dameron.
“All of these generational curses need to be broken,” Sanders said. “We need to break every chain, because I've been through so much.”
Sanders said after two tragedies she’s tired and wants to see gun violence stop.
“There's so many of these African American men that are not here with us today, from gun violence, from senseless things,” Sanders said. “They're not coming back. These are fathers, these are sons, these are uncles, these are nephews, these are brothers. These are someone's kids.”
The man who shot and killed Rashad, Preston Walls, is currently serving a 65-year prison sentence.
The man who murdered Rashad's father, Jerrid Winfrey, is serving a life sentence.
Over time Sanders has forgiven the man who killed her son, but she hasn’t forgiven the man who killed her grandson.