NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WAVY) — Sunday night dozens of people gathered in Newport News for a walk against gun violence.

Many of the people in attendance had also lost their loved ones in tragic shooting deaths in the city. The walk started at Riverview Farm Park and ended at Menchville High School, where 17-year-old Justice Dunham was shot and killed after a basketball game in 2021.

Justice’s mom, January Serda, said while the event was under the name “Justice for Justice,” there is a much bigger mission at hand.

“Justice for justice is not only about getting justice for my son, but it’s also about ensuring that we prosecute to the fullest extent to ensure the safety of our schools and our kids because our kids don’t feel safe,” she said.

Justice’s dad, Michael Dunham, told 10 On Your Side he hopes the event can happen every year, with a fewer type of attendees each time.

“Obviously the end goal is to have less people being remembered,” Michael said. “So have the group, have it more inclusive, have it bigger, but at the end of the day have less violence — have less people remembered.”

Newport News Vice Mayor Curtis Bethany said the city is currently working toward lowering the amount of gun violence.

“We already see some of the results coming back,” Bethany said. “It’s been successful even with our youth violence gang intervention prevention grant that we gave out too, so there are a number of opportunities and we’re going to always look for whatever we can do.”

January told 10 On Your Side what she hopes will come out of Sunday night’s walk.

“We should think [gun violence] is completely unacceptable,” January said. “We should be advocating for change. We should be pressuring our policy makers, and our elected officials to make change to invest in the solutions because they know what the solutions are.”

She also said most importantly, she hopes to bring a sense of healing to families impacted by gun violence.

Keep up to date with the latest news on WAVY.com.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WAVY.com.