A tearful grandmother directly appealed for an end to gun violence, interrupting Mayor Zohran Mamdani at a vigil to honor victims of a Fourth of July mass shooting in Brooklyn that wounded eight members of her family. Carlene Pearsall, who was also injured in the Coney Island attack, expressed her heartbreak after the mayor spoke of "the families" affected by the shooting.
"Everybody that was shot was my blood family," Pearsall stated. "It’s one entire family. This doesn’t make any sense."
Eight relatives, ranging in age from 6 to 37, sustained gunshot wounds while gathered for a barbecue and fireworks on Independence Day. Pearsall's 6-year-old grandson was wounded in the stomach, while her 14-year-old son and 7- and 12-year-old nephews suffered leg wounds. Her nieces, aged 21 and 25, and cousins, aged 33 and 37, were also shot. Pearsall herself was wounded in the attack.
"They shot our babies," Pearsall sobbed. "This is senseless. Our kids did not deserve that. My son is laying in a hospital bed saying, 'Mom, what did I do to deserve this?' Son, you did absolutely nothing."
"It doesn’t make any sense. It’s babies. It has to stop. It has to stop," she pleaded.
Mayor Mamdani had been attending the anti-gun violence event near the site of the shooting when Pearsall voiced her anguish. The gunman, who was masked, remains at large. "My grandson won’t eat," Pearsall added. "He never deserved that. None of us did."