Mothers Tearfully Remember Children Slain In Bay Area Homicides
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- The phone call still haunts Mattie Scott. The voice, the emotions of her loss grip her soul. She stood on the steps of San Francisco City Hall, the personification of the lasting impact of the Bay Area soaring homicide rate.
Mothers of Murdered Sons were joined Sunday evening by District Attorney Chesa Boudin and Police Chief Bill Scott as they remembered their loved ones gunned down.
"The scream that I heard on the phone from my six-year-old grandson is the scream that rings in my ear every day," said Mattie Scott, whose youngest son George Scott, was killed on July 17, 1996.
Across the Bay Area -- in Oakland, San Francisco and San Jose -- homicide rates have been soaring this year. A double homicide in Oakland Sunday morning pushed the city to a tragic milestone: 102 homicides so far in 2021 tying last year's total.
Meanwhile, the number of homicides in San Francisco is on pace to also surpass last year's total.
San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin told the grieving family members that he would work closely with Scott's department to make sure their loved ones get justice.
"We will do whatever we can together in our departments, in our work every day to make San Francisco the safest city it can be," he said.
"We're always trying to work together to make things better and these families deserve that and that's what we're committed to doing," Scott added.
Former Crypts gang-member Markee Carter, who served decades in prison for attempted murder, took a break from work to deliver his message.
"I hurt a lot of families," he said of his violent past. "I'm trying to show these kids and parents that I'm here. If you need my help I'll help. I'm sorry for everything I got away with."