SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Elizabeth Munoz says seven years after her son's murder in National City, her pain is still very real.
“As parents of a murdered child, we ask, we plead, we demand that we have peace on our streets that we end the violence. The gun violence that goes on in our neighborhoods,” says Elizabeth Munoz.
Munoz says the holiday season is especially tough for her family. Juan Carlos Munoz Jr. was shot and killed while he sat in a car parked on Prospect Street in National City back in 2015.
City leaders joined community members on Wednesday to call for a season of peace in National City, asking for a cease-fire to gang-related violence.
Munoz says her son fell victim to this type of crime.
"Our son's life was taken for no reason just because... People are in gangs and they decide that they could take a life," she added.
Sarah Bekele also spoke during the news conference, where she shared her story of survival after she was shot several times by a stranger. She says her boyfriend shielded her.
“He took the first round of bullets. He died on scene, and I was left with six bullet holes in my body,” Bekele says.
While all of these families may have different stories, they’ve come together for one cause: a call for peace.
