Every year, more and more kids are affected by gun violence and the alarming statistics are worrying parents and authorities in South Florida who are hoping to stop the gunfire.
At one South Florida daycare there's a reminder that Jada Page came there often to help out her grandmother, who owns the place. Jada's younger sister, 3-year-old Jazz, is one of the many who come to the daycare each day.
A cell phone video is how they remember Jada, who was often dancing in the front entrance of the daycare, feet from the billboard where now there's a poster on the 8-year-old's unsolved murder.
Police say she was killed by a stray bullet from a drive-by shooting. Jazz was standing right beside her when it hit.
Police statistics show seven children murdered by gunfire in Miami-Dade with two months before the end of the year. The number will either exceed or remain the same as the number of children killed by gunfire last year.
So far in 2016 there have been 24 shootings involving children. Last year there were 40, up from 30 the year before and 16 the year before that.
It's a major problem for Miami-Dade Public Schools. When 6-year-old King Carter died after a stray bullet hit him back in February, grief counselors sat with his classmates.
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The district has a crisis management team in place to deal with those issues.
"Many of these children have witnessed the aftermath of homicide, they have seen bodies in the street, they certainly hear gun shots on a regular basis," said Frank Zenere, Chairperson of the District Crisis Management Program.
Jada and King died in the North West, an area that's problematic for Miami-Dade Police, where they say kids are shooting kids. Three teens are facing murder charges in King's case, even though the child was clearly not their intended target.
Breaking the cycle is one of many messages behind the protests in communities where the violence exists.
The fight for change is the fuel behind growing partnerships between police, county leaders, educators and the public to prevent a new generation of violence before it’s too late.
