The Trace

• Dangerous Homes: Guns and Domestic Violence Exact a Deadly Toll on Kids March 23, 2023
  Angela Brooks will never forget the FaceTime call from her 10-year-old granddaughter, Nie’Mae.  “She said, ‘Granny, please help us. Mama’s dead,’” recalled Brooks, 58, a nurse in St. Louis.  Brooks didn’t believe it. Then Nie’Mae turned the phone around to show her a body on the floor. It was Brooks’ daughter, Chasity Cooper, 40. She […]
• ‘He Has a Battle Rifle’: Police Feared Uvalde Gunman’s AR-15 March 20, 2023
  UVALDE, Texas — Once they saw a torrent of bullets tear through a classroom wall and metal door, the first police officers in the hallway of Robb Elementary School concluded they were outgunned. And that they could die.   The gunman had an AR-15-style rifle, a design used by U.S. soldiers in every conflict since Vietnam. […]
• Shootings of Children Nearly Doubled During the Pandemic — and Black Kids Bore the Brunt of the Violence March 16, 2023
  Black children were 100 times more likely to be shot than white children during the first 21.5 months of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a study published last week in the Journal of the American Medical Association. “This study shows how important it is to bring a health disparity lens to research,” said Jonathan Jay, […]