executive producer & idea andy hale
producer & family advocate lisette guillen

exhibition: oct 15, 2023 @ vault gallery, chicago

SHATTERED HEARTS

chicago, il (2022-2023)

a photo series exploring the far-reaching consequences of gun violence and its impact on the health of millions of families in american cities.

in chicago, the number of gun violence homicides is skyrocketing, and police are unable to keep up with the caseloads. left behind are mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, aunts, and uncles sharing the unbearable ache of the deepest loss.

with SHATTERED HEARTS we aim to tell the stories of those who have gone unheard and been left in the dark, alone with their pain. many of these families haven't received justice, and their cases remain unsolved. the eyes of a mother reveal the torment of losing a child. nonetheless, fighting for justice is what drives them to get out of bed every day.

alexandria, christopher, MJ, kaylyn, and all the other victims touched hearts while they lived and were unconditionally loved. each of them had bright futures ahead, with aspirations to do good in life. they were in the wrong place at the wrong time—their lives taken for no reason. unpredictable.

SHATTERED HEARTS raises awareness of the far-reaching consequences of gun violence and of all the ways that impact the physical, mental, and emotional health of millions of people in american cities.

lourdes lara & jennifer ramirez

jennifer ramirez recounted a conversation she had with her brother when he came home from basic training. he told her, "if i’m ever gone, take care of mom, take care of brittany, chrys, and anthony." now she asks herself how she's supposed to stay strong—not many people understand the pain she's experiencing.

lourdes visits her son's grave daily. “no matter what i do, my son is not coming back. i would give up my life for my son to come back. we take it one day at a time. the message i want to convey to the young people is: don’t give up. you are a voice for this city and your community. keep chasing your dreams.”

lost their son & brother chrys carvajal (19)

on july 3rd, 2021, active member of the national guard chrys carvajal was at a party with his girlfriend in the belmont cragin neighborhood. later that night, at about 1:30 a.m., he was shot and killed as he walked on the sidewalk after a vehicle approached and the occupants opened fire.

mychal moultry sr. & tonya burch

lost his son mychal “mj” moultry (4)

on the evening of september 3rd, 2021, mychal sr. took his son, MJ, to a friend's home in englewood to get his hair braided. suddenly, gunfire erupted—three individuals jumped out of a car and fired 27 times into the apartment. little MJ, who sat in a chair getting his hair done while watching cartoons, was shot in the head. he was taken to a nearby hospital with critical injuries. his dad didn’t get hit and had to witness the tragedy. MJ died two days later in the hospital.

the murder of his 4-year-old son left mychal sr. angry and fearless. he and his wife, angela, moved the family to alabama after realizing that chicago wasn’t a safe place for their son to grow up in. but for labor day weekend in 2021, they flew back to see family and friends. MJ loved the beach and the movie ‘cars’. instead of "mom," he would always call his mother "happy"—"he lost his innocent life," she says.

mychal sr. and his wife are fighting for justice every day, talking to the media wherever they can to keep MJ’s case relevant and hoping for change. they even founded their own organization, called martyr for justice, where they engage with and offer resource guides to families of children who are victims of gun violence, whether through injury or homicide. mychal sr. and angela aim to create an alliance with the surviving parents of murdered and injured children.

lost her son deontae smith (19)

on august 1st, 2009, deontae was leaving a block party in englewood. there were between 100–200 people outside when two girls got into a fight. someone then started shooting, and deontae was hit in the back.

"when you lose your kids, it feels like you die with them," tonya says. she is still going door-to-door in the englewood neighborhood, passing out flyers and talking to people. hoping to find justice for her son, who was murdered 13 years ago. after deontae's death, she started her organization, taking back our community in honor of deontae smith, where she hosts an array of annual events for englewood children, such as sponsoring kids to attend sports camps during the summer, tutoring, gift sponsorships, and meet-and-greets with santa during the holidays. she has been hard at work throughout the years.

ariyana & christina johnson

christina devoted her life to her children. despite her own grief, her most important but toughest challenge after her son's death was to make sure her three other children were okay. the youngest, ariyana, was just a child when she lost her brother and had a tough time finding her path in life after christopher's murder. she ran away from home a few times, struggled with depression, and became very withdrawn—which was challenging for christina, who still to this day worries about her and remains very protective.

lost their son & brother christopher johnson (22)

on april 11th, 2015, at about 8:40 p.m., christopher was driving around in his new car, which he had saved for his whole life. he was waiting outside a friend's house in the park manor neighborhood when two men approached and began firing into the vehicle, striking christopher several times.

celia colon

guadalupe was raised by her older sister celia—the two shared a special bond. a few days after guadalupe was murdered, celia received a package from the police that she assumed contained her sister’s belongings from the car she was shot in.

however, when she opened the package, she found guadalupe’s blood-soaked clothes—with cerebral matter stuck to them. celia was appalled. but she made something meaningful out of it: she took her sister’s dna and put it in a capsule necklace that she now wears every day, close to her heart.

lost her sister guadalupe lopez (35)

on november 20th, 2020, at about 8:30 p.m., guadalupe was driving in the south chicago neighborhood when someone started shooting inside her car, striking her in the head. her birthday was the following day, which she had planned to spend with her two kids and the rest of her family.

elizabeth brant

elizabeth remembers the blood-red moon the night of her brother's murder. that evening, jesus had pizza with his nieces and nephews at his mother's house. he called his other nephews to check in to see if everything was okay. later on, everyone thought that was weird, and elizabeth thinks jesus felt something that night.

out of her four other siblings, elizabeth believes she is the strongest and keeps herself busy with her own investigation of her brother's murder. she stopped crying and mourning and got on top of the case because she wants to be strong for her family. she's the one talking to police and the media, attending meetings, and doing everything she can to receive justice for jesus. that's a lot of weight on elizabeth's young shoulders, as she is still traumatized herself.

when elizabeth went to pick up jesus' belongings from his car, something told her to snap photos and start her own investigation.

as she picked up a rug inside the car, she found a bullet underneath. the bullet had a piece of city sticker lodged in it. jesus' car sticker was intact, so she assumes the shooter must’ve fired out of their own front window. it upset her how the police could have missed this kind of evidence.

while investigating, elizabeth and her sister got chased out of the neighborhood where their brother was murdered.

her sister is depressed, her older brother helps with phone calls but has his own family and can’t be there physically. their mother is lost, she can’t be alone, so elizabeth and her kids moved in with her. the situation is especially hard for her mom since she doesn’t speak much english. elizabeth would find her sleeping in a chair next to the altar she built for jesus. by wearing her brother’s chicago cubs cap, elizabeth keeps him close, so that there is something physical of him still here with her.

lost her brother jesus brant (33)

on january 22nd, 2022, jesus was driving in the brighton park neighborhood at about 5:15 a.m. when an suv pulled alongside him and someone inside opened fire, striking him in the head. police would later confirm there were 7 shots fired—one of them hit jesus in the back while he was trying to drive away.

delphine cherry

every time delphine walks out her front door, she stands at the scene of her son’s death. “i don’t sleep at night. i’m on medication. i’ve lost about 15 pounds,” she says. but instead of allowing her grief to defeat her, she began to fight back by becoming an activist—founding the TY (tender youth) foundation named for her son, becoming the co-chair of the brady campaign chicago chapter, volunteering for the illinois council against handgun violence, and serving as a youth commissioner for the village of hazel crest.

she believes she can no longer just sit back and be a victim or a bystander—she has to do more to stop gun violence. through her work with the brady campaign, delphine has built an alliance of gun violence prevention activists in illinois. she wants to stop more parents from having this terrible tragedy happen to them.

delphine came to our production in her son’s car—the one he was murdered next to in 2012. she keeps it spotless, with all of tyler’s belongings still inside: his air freshener, workout bag, towel on the passenger seat, and a nike air jordan necklace hanging from the rearview mirror.

delphine gave birth to tyler exactly nine months and two days after the murder of her daughter, tyesa. the pregnancy was unexpected, and with her first-born gone, she was convinced she would place tyler for adoption—until, within 24 hours of his birth, she changed her mind.

every day, delphine wears a photo necklace with tyesa’s portrait on one side and tyler’s on the other.

lost her daughter tyesa cherry abney (16)
& her son tyler randolph (20)

on january 17th, 1992, tyesa was coming out of a movie theater when she was struck in the head by a random bullet fired by a 14-year-old who was fighting with another youth in line.

20 years later, on the evening of december 22nd, 2012, tyler had just gotten home from work when he was robbed, beaten, and shot just yards from his front doorstep in hazel crest. he was found dead with the car still running.

alan scott

alan got to talk to the boy later on, and he told him that when he was unconscious after he was shot, he saw kaylyn. everything was white, and she told him, "it is okay." alan nodded and said that does sound like his daughter.

a month before the one-year anniversary of their daughter's murder, his wife, royce pryor, died after her heart gave out at only 48 years old. "the heartbreak of losing a child," kaylyn's sister, chantal, says.

lost his daughter Kaylyn Pryor (20)

on november 2nd, 2015, at about 6:20 p.m., aspiring model kaylyn pryor was walking to the bus after visiting her grandparents in the englewood neighborhood when someone in a passing dark-colored suv fired shots at her and a 15-year-old boy. kaylyn died, while the boy was in critical condition and survived.

yolanda jordan

yolanda is hosting a yearly block party in her son's honor. families bring photos of their loved ones who were killed, and they share memories together. she also sends daily texts to friends and family with messages of love, positivity, and motivation.

lost her sons cedric jordan (19)
& demetrius jordan (32)

in 2005, yolanda got a call saying that her son cedric had been shot. when she arrived at the scene, he was already gone. he was transported directly to the morgue.

16 years later, on may 15th, 2021, yolanda was at a family outing when, at about 11:50 p.m., someone fired several shots into the house. everyone started screaming and looking for safety by laying down on the floor. when the gunshots stopped, yolanda started looking around to check if her kids were okay. "a mother’s instinct is to look for her children," she says. when she couldn’t get eyes on her son, demetrius, she screamed. then a woman said, "lady, your son is laying in the middle of the street—he got shot."

"our kids are surviving this pandemic, this very deadly virus.

but they're not surviving this gun violence on the streets of chicago."

andrew holmes, community & victim advocate

nanette luna

"they are somebody's child, somebody's brother, somebody's sister," nanette says. she wasn’t with her son when he took his final breath, and that haunts her every day. "when he would get hurt, i was always there for him (...) and i don’t know if he hurt. i wasn’t there. it’s a feeling i can’t describe. it hurts so bad." all the emotional pain turned into physical burdens for nanette, leading to multiple surgeries that have now resulted in physical restrictions and disabilities.

nanette is a member of the organization parents for peace & justice, which offers athletic programs, supportive therapy, community outreach, victim advocacy, and works to prevent violence and care for those who have been affected by it.

lost her son victor felix jr. (16)

on june 1st, 2016, victor was dropped off at high school by his grandmother. at 8:44 a.m., victor and two of his friends decided to go to a nearby store before class. on the way back, a brown buick pulled up in an alley. the driver got out and fired several shots. his friends got away, but victor was shot three times and found lying on the sidewalk.

elizabeth ramirez & pascual nunez

elizabeth feels empty every day without her son. she took out a $50,000 loan against her house, which she plans to use as reward money to find the person responsible for dee jay’s murder. "i don't want the person that took my son's life to continue to take other kids' lives," she says. "i want justice for my son. i want justice for the community. i want peace. i don’t accept my son’s death. sometimes i pray to god for this to be a bad dream."

after her son was murdered, elizabeth went on local tv stations to advocate for anti-violence policies and demand justice. this brought a violent response from local gang members. she says less than a month after her son was killed, she stopped at a red light when she noticed three menacing-looking men approaching her car. “one of them hit my car with a bat and told me, ‘if you don’t stop, you’re going to be the next one.’”

elizabeth is scared to leave the house most of the time. “i can never go out on saturdays again because that’s the day my son was killed.”

lost their son harry "dee jay" ramirez (23)

on october 23rd, 2011, harry, also known as dee jay, was celebrating his birthday with more than a dozen friends in his belmont cragin apartment when, at around 1:55 a.m., a masked man burst in through the back door, firing indiscriminately into the crowd. dee jay and another man suffered gunshot wounds to the chest. two more men with guns stood in the alley, shooting up to the second floor.

shirie sanders & mary sandifer

"my life will never be the same, i'm always sad. it's just a hole in my heart. i don't know what to do about it. and it hurts more because he was murdered, and we don't have anybody arrested for it. i can't really grieve yet, because i don't know what happened. everybody i see, i wonder if that's the person who did it," antoine's mother, mary, says.

one of antoine's brothers wasn’t able to attend the funeral because he couldn’t handle it. "my dad didn’t do anything to nobody. my dad didn’t deserve this."

lost their brother & son antoine howard (38)

on the night of january 30th, 2017, antoine was playing video games with his kids at his home in gary, indiana. at about 9:18 p.m., he heard a knock on the door. when he opened, someone immediately started shooting at him. his son atorione heard the gunshots, ran upstairs, and found his father lying on the ground. antoine's 9-year-old daughter, shiloh, was lying in her bed upstairs—one of the bullets went through the front gable of the house and struck her in the abdomen.

marci keener & matthew gerlach

that night, marci was helping a friend in st. charles when she got a phone call from her mother. "you need to come home, nick was shot," was all she said. in the background, marci heard her other son crying. the 50-minute drive back to chicago was a nightmare for marci—not only did she not know anything about nick's condition, but she also couldn’t get a hold of the hospital.

"as a mom, you know. you go to the darkest place, but you don't want to believe it," she shares. "i remember my friend asking me during the drive, 'do you feel nick right now?' and i answered, 'i don't know, i don't know.' and at that very moment, there was like this chill that just kinda left the right side of my body, just kinda popping out."

once she and her friend arrived at the hospital, that’s when she learned that nick had passed. the doctors brought her to him, and those are the last visions she has of her oldest son.

nick was a goofball, he loved his friends and music (especially rap), riding his bike at the lakefront, and hanging out with his little brothers.

"nick was that kid that would not leave anybody behind, no matter who they were. he was actually killed in front of the preschool he graduated from. it's a circle," marci says.

lost their son & brother nicholas "nick" keener (16)

on may 31st, 2014, nick was at a memorial day barbecue with his friends in irving park. later that night, at about 10:30 p.m., the group was walking in the neighborhood when a car drove up and the driver opened fire through the hood of the car. everyone started to run away, but when nick saw that the intended target was just standing there, frozen, he went back—and was shot three times himself.

marsha lee

what haunts marsha the most in this new life is that tommy’s case remains unsolved. she says that his friends have purchased their first houses, married, and had children, and she is reminded of how much he has been cheated out of his goals. she said, "if my children died before me, someone would have to put me down beside them." someone almost had to, because this nearly killed her, too.

lost her son thomas “tommy” lee (20)

on august 12th 2008, thomas "tommy" lee and two friends made a stop at a convenience store in harvey, illinois. while sitting in the parking lot, an unknown individual approached tommy in the driver’s seat, pointed a gun at him, attempting to rob him. tommy tried to wrestle with the individual to get the gun out of his hand when it suddenly went off, and tommy was shot. as the shooter was running away, he fired at least three more rounds back into the car.

rafael & milagros burgos

at the time of our production, alexandria’s birthday was coming up. for milagros and rafael, it became hard to manage daily life after their daughter’s murder, but holidays and family get-togethers make it even harder since her birthday and christmas were alexandria’s favorite times of the year. she would always look forward to them and loved spending these days with her family.

alexandria was especially close to her brother christian. when she was shot, he immediately got down on the floor, crawled to her, and held her. christian witnessing that happen to his sister had a deep impact on him.

milagros says, “our children should not have to see or experience things like that. we used to say, ‘when we’re gone, you guys will have each other.’ and now he doesn’t have her, and it breaks our heart. society failed our daughter. elected officials must act to stop others from feeling our pain.”

alexandria had a tattoo appointment scheduled for the week after her death. milagros went to the appointment in her daughter’s honor and got a tattoo for her: an infinity sign with alexandria’s name and a feather in pink, her favorite color. rafael got a similar tattoo with alexandria’s name in her handwriting, in the same spot as his wife’s.

lost their daughter alexandria imani burgos (18)

on october 19th, 2014, alexandria went to pick up her younger brother, christian, from a small birthday gathering at a friend's house in the belmont cragin neighborhood. shortly before 1 a.m., while waiting inside, a stray bullet entered the home, striking only alexandria and killing her instantly.

zenobia carmel

when zenobia learned about her son's death, she fell out. she ran out of the hospital, crying and screaming. but something in her spirit told her to get up and stay strong. she says she never questioned god, and that it was michael's time: "he didn't suffer, and i thank god for that."

after leaving the hospital, zenobia drove to the crime scene to make sure there was no blood from her son left out there. she grew up in the area and says she went through a lot in this neighborhood. she also spent a lot of time marching the streets and speaking out to end gun violence.

"just smile and hold him," zenobia says when asked what she would do if michael stood in front of her right now.

"my son came to me in a dream the day after he died, in all white and barefoot. before i could ask questions, i woke up. if you have a dream like that, it means something. when you have these dreams and you remember, that means something. if you don't remember, then they don't mean nothing. and my son was letting me know that he was okay. i'm gonna keep fighting for my son."

lost her son michael octavio bell (36)

in may 2018, at about 5 p.m., zenobia was sitting on her friend’s porch when she heard gunshots in the neighborhood. she knew michael was safe because he was at her house. later that night, when she got home, michael was making himself food in the kitchen, and they were joking and laughing together as usual. then he took a shower and said, “ma, i’ll be back.”

zenobia responded, “michael, don’t go in the neighborhood, they’re shooting.” he promised his mom not to hang out in the neighborhood. zenobia told him she loved him and watched him get in the car. then she went to sleep.

michael picked up his friend in brainerd when two young men came by and asked for some weed. as they walked past them, the two men started firing bullets. one hit michael in the chest, and two hit his friend. following the shooting, the two young men took a video of michael and his friend on the ground and posted it on facebook.

zenobia got the phone call from michael’s wife. she rushed to the hospital, but michael wasn’t there anymore. he was already gone—dead on arrival at about 12:20 a.m.