MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) - Families from across Milwaukee gathered at the Ephesians Missionary Church Baptist Church on Sunday night with one thing in common: losing a loved one in 2025 to gun violence.

Local community groups organized an end of year candlelight vigil, lighting a candle for each person killed in Milwaukee in 2025.

Families heard from the mayor, county executive, and resources that are available to them in the grieving process.

160 candles were lit on Sunday night.

“The prayer is that we have fewer candles every year,” Health Connections Inc. CEO Ericka Sinclair said. “Every time we see another one, even every time we hear another story, every time we know these people enough and some of these people are people we actually know."

One of the main purposes of the vigil is to let families that are grieving know they are not alone in the process.

“Events like this let people know that there are folks in our community who can support them and also being in community you don’t have to go through grief alone,” Milwaukee Grassroots Network for Health Cofounder Quinton Cotton said.

Shanika Willaims was in the crowd on Sunday night. Her son, Raymond Wilson Jr., was one of the names called and candles lit. He was killed in July of this year.

“He was my everything other than my other children,” Williams said. “It felt like my heart was being pulled out again because you never think, I never thought I’d be walking in these shoes.”

Williams says nothing can bring her son back and that she is taking his loss second by second, but the vigil showed her one thing.

“I think what helped was seeing that you’re not alone,” Williams said. “It hurts deeply to see that there’s 160 people that have lost their lives in a matter of a year.”