OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — The Before The Casket presentation put youth in the shoes of someone who's been impacted by a homicide.
This was the second annual event held at Pleasant Green Baptist Church. It was aimed towards struggling youth in the Omaha community to encourage them to think about their life choices and how those choices can affect others.
"We want people to look in the mirror and let them to see that this could be you in this casket. If you making these wrong decisions, if you making these bad choices, this could be you in the casket," said Sergeant Antwone Finch with Omaha Police.
Children were given the opportunity to look at themselves in the casket through a mirror and think about the value of life. At the event, first responders spoke to give some perspective on how losing kids to gun violence has a ripple effect.
"The people you hang with, a lot of times people get shot and killed and all these things, not because they were the bad person but cause of who they hung with," said Jason Gentry with the Omaha Fire Department.
One father, Ricky Smith, said he went last year and that it pulled at his heartstrings. This year, he wanted to bring his kids to help them gain perspective.
"They are at that bright age where they need to understand sometimes the decisions that they make, the choices that they make can have a long, long-lasting impact," said Smith.
The most impactful part, he said, was hearing from a mother who lost her own to gun violence.
"And it's been almost - it's been 8 years about to be 9 years but it still hurts, the pain don't go away," said Clarice Jackson, who lost her daughter to gun violence in 2015.
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