“I was terrified,” said Alicia Campbell describing her emotion as she watched the video of the savage shooting in Henderson that made headlines this week. The frantic scene hit especially close to home for this Vance County mom who doesn’t live far from the shooting.

The senseless gun violence outside this gas station sounded too much like the absurdity that killed Campbell’s 21-year-old son Ahmad nearly six years ago when he went to an off-campus party during his freshman year in North Carolina. TO.

“Someone on the outside had an argument or something on the outside,” Campbell recalled. “And someone fired into the apartment and a bullet hit Ahmad.”

In the years that followed, Campbell became an advocate for stricter gun laws. She will wear her orange on Saturday as a speaker at the Raleigh Gun Violence Awareness event at Chavis Park.

“I do this for Ahmad and everyone else,” Campbell said. “Because I can’t imagine the pain these other parents are feeling. I know the pain is a daily pain that never goes away.”

Kashinda Marche is the Raleigh-Apex NAACP Community Outreach Chair. The civil rights group is also part of Saturday’s rally. Marche is on a mission to normalize the conversation about mental health and mental illness.

“It’s almost like we’re trapped in a trauma,” Marche said. “I think if we dig a little deeper and make that area of ​​our lives a little healthier, maybe we won’t see as much tragedy.”

Back in Vance County, Campbell tries to turn her gun violence trauma into change.

“I’m ready. I want to do something. I want to be part of the movement,” she said.