Chicago’s Grieving Mothers Help Community Amid Wave of Gun Violence

Pamela Bosley holds a picture of her son, Terrell Bosley, who was killed by gunfire in a church parking lot in Chicago, Ill., at the age of 18. Bosley founded a support group for mothers who have lost their children to gun violence, called Purpose Over Pain. Todd Rosenberg

CHICAGO—Anna Marie Edwards attended a vigil for 1-year-old Sincere Gaston on July 1. He was killed in a drive-by shooting, one of nine children killed in less than two weeks during a wave of gun violence in Chicago. 

Edwards hugged the boy’s grieving mother. She understood the mother’s pain, having lost her own son in a drive-by shooting about two years ago. She also understood the need for support from other mothers who truly know what that pain is like.