Re “Remembering loved ones,” Free Press Dec. 19-21 edition:

Almost every day, it seems another Richmond family is receiving the heartbreaking news that a loved one has been wounded or killed by gunfire.

I understand what the family of Markiya Dickson and every other family that has suffered a loss is going through. I feel their pain because I have been dealing with that same pain as the result of the killings of my two sons, Markie Bloomfield and Jerry Bloomfield.

I am still grief-stricken that they are gone. Markie was 23 when a man he considered his best friend shot him twice in the back in October 2004.

And Jerry was 25 when he was gunned down at his apartment in Whitcomb Court in December 2007 by people who have yet to be identified.

I used to be a manager at a Walmart, but the murders of my children have torn me up inside. That is what happens to everyone in my circumstance. Each killing not only results in death, but it also leaves devastated survivors like me.

My sons were my life, my family. Their killers took them from me. They have robbed me of the joy of the Christmas season as all I have left are my happy memories rather than my sons being alive and well.

In this season when we pray for peace on Earth and good will, I appeal to all to put down your guns and stop this indiscriminate shooting. Think about the terrible impact you are having on the families of those you seek to kill.

I also urge people to be careful of those whom they call friends because it only takes one to turn out to be like Judas and turn happiness into tragedy.

And for those of you who know something, call the police. Use the tip line to stay nameless, but tell police what you know. The killer or killers of my Jerry are still walking free. His case is a cold file because no one would talk. I, and everyone else who suffers such a loss, need and want to know who did this and why. We remain in limbo until that happens. We need relief and only you who have knowledge can help us find out.

All of us need relief from the dread of losing someone to another senseless and unnecessary shooting. This world is hard enough without the misery that comes from such a loss and the hurt that comes from not knowing who did it.

As we head into the new year, resolve to do your part to end the violence and to speak up when you know something.

CYNTHIA BLOOMFIELD-WOODLEY

Richmond