Content warning: This email reflects on the April 8, 2025 mass shooting in Spotsylvania County, Virginia. If this is too much to read right now, we understand. Take care of yourself and feel free to skip the rest of this email. Here are some mental health resources that you may find helpful.
John,
On April 8, an illegal gun sale in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, erupted into a shootout. Three young men — Chase Feaster (18), Alonzo Goffney (18), and Devon Fitz (19) — were killed. Three others were hospitalized.
The people involved were barely adults. But they had powerful weapons. They met for an illegal sale, and instead, it turned into a robbery and mass shooting in broad daylight — on a residential street, in a neighborhood full of families.
This is what happens when we treat gun access like a free-for-all. When background checks are riddled with loopholes. When illegal sales go unchecked. When young people are failed at every level by systems that should be protecting them.
The gun violence crisis doesn’t just take lives — it destabilizes entire communities. Schools in the area went on delay. Law enforcement scrambled to respond to threats of retaliation. Families are grieving.
We are furious this happened. And we are clear about what we’re fighting for.
We are organizing to shut down illegal gun trafficking. We are exposing the systems that enable young people to get guns faster than they can get help. We are demanding a country where the next generation can grow up without fear, surveillance, or violence.
And as we fight, we remember.
We remember Chase, Alonzo, and Devon. We remember the lives they were building. We remember that none of this was inevitable.
In remembrance and resolve,
March For Our Lives
Today and every day, we honor the lives taken at Spotsylvania County, Virginia:
Chase Feaster, 18 |
