(gentle music) - Gun violence is a pandemic in of itself.

- Once you lose your child, that is something totally different.

You cannot maneuver and move the same way you've been doing.

- The shooting in October of 2018.

It was a big shock to everybody.

- April 26th, 2019 is the day I'll never forget.

It was the day when my son was murdered.

My son name was Armani Ford and he was just a beautiful person.

He definitely was my first love.

Here's a picture of his family that he drew and that was his picture that he took in school.

He was going to meet his cousin because he always takes his cousin to work and whoever got in a car with him tried to rob him.

So once the boy got out the car, my son chased him.

Two men on East Side ambushed him and shot him.

We went to the scene and instantly I can just see the police walking towards me and I can tell in his face that he did not wanna give me that message 'cause I didn't wanna receive it.

So once he did, I just fell to the ground because I think it was like, this is not real, you know what I mean?

Like I'm dreaming.

- July 2nd, 2017.

Up until that point, life was good.

My wife and I, we have six kids.

Jeremiah was the type of dude that you would want as a teammate.

Jeremiah was a quarterback.

I can honestly say that I have never heard the word quit or give up come outta Jeremiah's mouth.

The last thing Jeremiah told his mother was, I love you mom.

Jeremiah went out, Sunday morning came, my wife and I are in the living room, I think probably getting ready for church, was sitting there and two gentlemen get out of the car with suits on and they gave us the terrible news.

And losing a child but losing a child to gun violence, whatever it was, I am 100% convinced that it did not have to come to that.

- I am a member of Congregation Dor Hadash, the Tree of Life building was the home for Dor Hadash prior to the shooting in October of 2018.

My wife and I had just gotten into the car, she was driving.

We had a chore to run, which is the reason she was not at the synagogue.

And as we were starring the car in front of our home, my phone rang.

It was a phone call from a friend in Israel checking to see if we were okay.

We were good friends with someone who was killed and with someone who was severely wounded.

The people who are affected the most are those who lost family members.

And there's nothing I could say about how I or my friends were affected that can in any way compare to the immense loss and pain that they continued to suffer.

(gentle music) - Birthdays aren't the same.

We have not put up a Christmas tree since Jeremiah left.

- It took me like two years for me to really hit that bottom, to realize that my child is gone.

I have anxiety really bad and I never had that, insomnia.

There's moments when I can be up for three, four days.

- After the shooting, when I would go into public spaces, especially if I was with my wife, the first thing I'd start doing upon entering some places to start looking for the ways of exiting the building other than the front doors.

- It impacts the community in a very difficult way.

- His friends, I think they having a moment where they're really realizing he's not pulling up, he's not coming.

We have to still keep our children relevant.

We have to let people know that our kids didn't get murdered in vain.

(gentle music) - I am the founder of the Men's Huddle Group which is a support group for grieving fathers who have lost children to gun violence.

This is our flyer.

Our motto is, "Your grief has a voice".

We can have the absolute worst thing imaginable occur in your life and you can surround yourself with some other dads that'll help you get through with this.

At any meeting, someone is going to have that strand of hope that you can cling to and get through to the next day.

- I started the MOMS group in July 15th, 2019 and moms stand for Moms of Murdered Sons.

Majority of the time we talk about legacy, what we wanna do in honor of our kids.

We do community work, we can sell dinners, for Thanksgiving I buy turkeys and I passed out throughout the community in honor of my son.

I never thought being that I lost my son going on three years, that I would be able to help other mothers.

This is my purpose, this is what I'm meant to do.

- The support we received was unlike what a lot of other places throughout history have seen and I attribute that to Pittsburgh.

Everybody came together.

There's an organizational activity that resulted from this that is Fighting Gun Violence.

(gentle music) - I own firearms, I'm a veteran, but what I am not okay with is how easily accessible these weapons are to kids.

- The United States has more guns than any other country in the world.

And so we see a lot more shootings, the hate groups, we have to get there first.

- And I think it probably just influence.

We have to find other ways to resolve things.

(gentle music) - "Stronger than hate" signs in the windows.

It shows where the mentality of people in Pittsburgh are, and that helps to heal.

- I don't blame anybody.

I don't hold ill will, grudge, whatever.

I only thing I need to do is honor my son and that's what I do.

- Jeremiah, although he is not here in the flesh, his spirit is alive and well.

And that's what the men's huddle group does for other dads.

This joy I have in my life, the world can't take it away.

(gentle music)