Still grieving, Sunday the family and friends of Carlos Crues Jr. came together with other people in the community affected by violence.
Hundreds prayed in harmony before taking to the streets of Youngstown for a peace march.
"There's no reason for anybody to be murdered, but this is just very senseless," says Sparkle Johnson, whose son Carlos, known to many as Los, was shot multiple times last Saturday.
Just days after burying her teenage son, she wanted to promote the message of peace not just for her son, but for all of the other people touched by murder.
"We need to stop these killings because it doesn't just hurt me or the families or the mothers, it hurts everybody around us," Johnson adds.
Through social media and cell phones, a family friend spread the word about a march in solidarity down one of Youngstown's busiest streets.
And as family and friends of Carlos Crues Jr. marched down Market Street, other people showed their support for the movement for peace by joining in.
"If people can just try to come together and basically just stop the violence like, it has to stop, it has to stop!" says organizer Shalayah Sanders. "A 17-year-old, his life was taken for no apparent reason and so this was put together in his memory."
In his memory, and in the memory of so many other recent victims of homicide, the adults here say they want to stop the violence by starting with the young people in the community.
"Our young kids, they are our future and we need to make sure that they understand that because they have to carry on and live much happier and better lives," says Carlos' Heidi Crues.
After starting at the Eagle Heights School, the march ended about a mile down on the Market Street Bridge.
Gathering in the street, all of the participants came together to release white balloons into the air.
"It's a hurt feeling, like I got a hole in my heart, that was my only son," Johnson says. "I feel for other people who lost their son, and it's not just me that I want justice for, I want justice for everybody."
