BATON ROUGE - Mothers who lost children due to street violence gathered for a heartfelt conversation Sunday afternoon.

Community members, activists and local leaders attended A Mother's Cry, a Summer of Hope event put on by the to decrease violence in Baton Rouge.

Mayor Pro Temp Lamont Cole said that the purpose of Sunday's event was to give mothers the opportunity to share their stories. 

"Mother's not only from Baton Rouge, but from all over the country who've experienced death of a child as a result of gun violence [come to] share their story," Cole said. 

Sybrina Fulton, the mother of Trayvon Martin, traveled to Baton Rouge for the conversation on Sunday. Her son was killed in 2012 by George Zimmerman. His death was one of the events that inspired the Black Lives Matter movement.

"There's something about when you carry a child for nine months and lose that said child.. it's a different type of pain," Fulton said. 

Rowvaughn Wells, the mother of Tyre Nichols, was also at the event. Her son was killed by five Tennessee policemen in 2023.

"I've only dealt with this for about a year in a half now. My son's birthday was last week on June 5. And I'm really emotional," Wells said.

The motto for A Mother's Cry is that through unity and action, people can pave the way for a more peaceful future.