Titiana Bogar-Curry wears orange and black every day. Though the colors independently signify gun violence prevention and grief, that’s not why she puts them on. They were her sons’ favorites, and wearing them is one small way to carry their legacy.

Bogar-Curry’s sons, Ly’Saun and Anthony, were shot and killed within three years of each other in Rochester, New York — she lost Ly’Saun, the elder of the two, in 2020, and Anthony last year. Both were teenagers, and both were lost to a cycle of community violence that plagues their hometown.

But as their mother says: “My boys are not statistics.” Ly’Saun was a mediator who brought people together, and Anthony was the life of the party; their loved ones still gather to reminisce and release balloons on their birthdays and anniversaries of their deaths. Bogar-Curry is determined to make sure her sons are remembered for who they were, “not just a gunshot victim.” In a photo essay for The Trace, photographer Vincent Alban documents the Curry family over two years, sharing how one mother’s story of grief mingles with the collective memory.

From The Trace

What to Know Today 

Victims and mothers of people killed in the 2022 mass shooting at Club Q, a queer nightclub in Colorado Springs, filed a lawsuit against the county asserting that the murders could have been prevented if the sheriff had used Colorado’s extreme risk protection order law; El Paso County declared itself a “Second Amendment sanctuary” in response to the state’s red flag proposal in 2019. In June 2021, the shooter allegedly threatened to detonate a bomb and harm his mother with “multiple weapons.” [Associated Press] 

In 2017, Kandice Cole’s 4-year-old son, Eric, shot himself with an unsecured, loaded handgun he found at his babysitter’s house in Northwest Indiana, becoming one of the more than 800 children killed with firearms in the state between 2000 and 2020. Initial news reports called Eric’s death an “accident,” a frame his mother, now a safe storage advocate, says strips gun owners of their responsibility: “When you have a gun accessible, it makes it that much easier, and you don’t get a second chance.” [CBS] 

Georgia state Senator Emanuel Jones, a Democrat, released proposals to create tax credits for people who purchase safe firearm storage devices, policies he hopes will gain bipartisan traction when the GOP-controlled Legislature reconvenes in January. Similar legislation nearly became state law last year. [Associated Press] 

Criminology & Public Policy, an academic journal dedicated to the study of criminal justice policy and practice, released a special issue on gun violence. The edition includes articles on domestic violence and firearm restrictions, gunshot-detection technology, and permitless concealed carry laws. [Criminology & Public Policy] 

It’s been almost three years since four students were killed and seven other people were injured in the mass shooting at Oxford High School, yet a thorough investigation of the attack with the full participation of school officials has never been conducted. Victims’ parents have implored Michigan officials to conduct a probe; the state’s attorney general says local authorities “soundly rejected” multiple offers for help investigating the shooting. [Detroit Free Press] 

Two people were killed and at least a dozen others were injured by two shootings during a heavily policed community parade in New Orleans on Sunday. The shootings came in a year in which the city has otherwise experienced steep declines in homicides and other violent crimes. [NOLA.com] 

The Justice Department notified officials in Sangamon County, Illinois, that it has opened a civil rights investigation into the killing of Sonya Massey, citing “serious concerns” about the Sheriff’s Office’s interactions with Black people and people with behavioral health disabilities. Sheriff’s Deputy Sean Grayson shot Massey, who is Black and reportedly struggled with her mental health, after she called police for help. Grayson, who has been charged with murder, has a long history of problematic behavior at prior police jobs; in one recent case, a judge dropped charges against a woman who alleges that Grayson ordered her to remove drugs from her body in front of him and another male officer. [The New York Times/IPM News] 

Last year, a former patient opened fire inside New Hampshire Hospital, a state-run psychiatric hospital, killing beloved security guard Bradley Haas. The attack prompted calls for the state to close a loophole that allowed the shooter to buy a firearm — but lawmakers passed no gun safety measures in the most recent session, while approving some bills that expanded gun rights. Advocates say they’ll continue pushing for reform in 2025. [New Hampshire Public Radio] 

A few announcements from our newsroom:

Data Point

24 — the number of states without laws requiring safe firearm storage. [CBS] 

Non Sequitur

The Lizard King of Long Island

“Had a herpetological Johnny Appleseed brought Italian wall lizards to my home town?” [The New Yorker] 

Sunny Sone
Sunny is in charge of our newsletters, leading the growth of existing products and dreaming up new ones. They previously worked as a copy editor at The Intercept and as digital editor for the Texas Observer, and co-published a web-only magazine under the Brick House media cooperative. Sunny has covered topics ranging from the Texas funeral industry to the life of visionary composer Pauline Oliveros. They hold a degree in journalism from the University of Texas at Austin.