Fun over guns: Community efforts to end gun violence starting with Fort Worth's future leaders
FORT WORTH, Texas (CBSNewsTexas.com) - There's an effort to end gun violence in Fort Worth, starting with Fort Worth's future leaders.
Since the beginning of July, the city has seen several violent incidents, including a deadly mass shooting in the Como neighborhood of Fort Worth.
On Saturday, there was an event at Hallmark Park bringing kids together to play baseball to keep them active.
"It makes me feel like I'm on top of it, like when I play catch or something I either throw somebody out and then I feel like I'm in power," said 10-year-old baseball player ZR Tasby.
This event was created by Pastor Kyev Tatum, called Pitch, Hit, & Run Over Bullets and Guns as a response to the multiple deadly shootings in the city.
It has been a violent month here in Fort Worth, at least 22 people have been hurt and six killed in a mass shooting in the historic Como neighborhood and during a deadly police shooting at a Fourth of July party near the Diamond Hill neighborhood.
"It deeply saddens me and I pray and hope that we can do something to combat this," said Aaliyah Collins with Fort Worth Youth Outreach.
So she wanted to be a part of this event created by Pastor Tatum to help the community heal and project positivity to its youth.
"It gives them something productive to do and also gives them a safe space in the community to do so," added Collins.
Many adults here like Gregory Fry, a former high school baseball coach, describe why playing a sport was so instrumental in their upbringing, "It also kept me out of trouble, a lot of times during the summer kids lose accountability responsibility and they just have a chance to go and do whatever they want, but playing baseball I always had to be mindful that I had to go to practice and it was accountability."
Pastor Tatum said he would like to see this event happen each year and see if grow into multiple neighborhoods.
