![[aggregator] downloaded image for imported item #40029](https://newsview.top/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Christian-and-Gianno-1024x576.jpg "GIANNO CALDWELL: My brother would have been 22 today. We must defeat the violent crime epidemic")
This post was originally published on this site.
On Wednesday, Feb.18, my younger brother Christian would have turned 22 years old.
It’s hard to believe that in just a few months, it will be four years since he was tragically murdered on theSouth Side of Chicago.Christian had just graduated from high school.He had his whole life ahead of him.He dreamed of attending UCLA.We even took a college tour together.
Instead, on June 24, 2022, my brother was murdered while standing with friends on a city street.
A black SUV pulled up.Several unidentified men opened fire.Fifty shell casings were later recovered at the scene.Three people were rushed to the hospital.Only two survived.
GIANNO CALDWELL SEEKS JUSTICE FOR BROTHER KILLED IN BLUE CITY ‘ENAMORED WITH CRIMINALS’ RIGHTS’: ALDERMAN
Police described it as “wrong place, wrong time.” In places like Chicago, the wrong place and wrong time could be a person lying in their bed and a bullet flying through their window.
That phrase has haunted me ever since.Because four years later, not much has changed.
Nationally, crime has shown signs of decline over the past year, thanks to President Donald Trump.But in places like Chicago and other liberal cities, violent crime is systemic and stubbornly persistent.Last month alone, 123 people were shot in Chicago.
CHICAGO KIDS ARE DYING WHILE MAYOR JOHNSON FIGHTS TRUMP, ICE AND REALITY
Violent crime is not a partisan talking point.It is an epidemic sweeping our nation.
And for my family, justice has still not come.
Gianno Caldwell and his younger brother, Christian, in their last photo taken together.
I am blessed to have a career that gives me a platform and access — to policymakers, to media, to the national conversation.With that blessing comes responsibility.I refuse to let Christian’s face be forgotten or his story dismissed as an anomaly.
The Day My Brother Was Murdered: My Journey Through America’s Violent Crime Crisis.” While it tells my family’s story, it also honors the lives of eight other innocent individuals who were murdered on the very same day as Christian — across the country, in unrelated, random acts of violence.
They were different races.Different backgrounds.Different ages and life circumstances.
AN ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT KILLED MY DAUGHTER — LEFTISTS MARCH FOR RENEE, NOT FOR KATIE
Their only commonality was that they were innocent.And they were murdered.
This is not a race issue.This is not a targeted issue.This is an American issue affectingevery single person in this country.
�The Day My Brother Was Murdered.�
That reality is also why I launched the Caldwell Institute for Public Safety in June 2024, two years after my family lost Christian, alongside its sister organization, the Caldwell Foundation for Public Safety.Our mission is simple but urgent: to confront violent crime honestly and to tackle it at its root while ensuring victims and their families are the priority.
NATIONAL DAY OF REMEMBRANCE FOR MURDER VICTIMS REMINDS US OF ‘SOFT-ON-CRIME’ POLICIES’ DEADLY CONSEQUENCES
A major driver of this crisis is policy.
Across our cities, well-intentioned but deeplyflawed policieshave shifted the balance of justice — placing more rights in the hands of criminals than of victims.Soft-on-crime policies, weak enforcement and a lack of accountability have emboldened repeat offenders while leaving law-abiding citizens vulnerable.
America must confront its violent crime crisis now, before more birthdays go uncelebrated, more futures are stolen and more families are left asking why.
On Tuesday, Feb.24, the Caldwell Institute for Public Safety and the Caldwell Foundation for Public Safety will host their second annual gala at Mar-a-Lago, “Securing America’s Future: The Roadmap to 2026 and Beyond.” The event will bring together national leaders, distinguished guests and concerned citizens with one shared purpose: confronting America’sviolent crime crisishead-on and honoring the victims whose lives were taken far too soon.
�s high school graduation on Aug.16, 2020.(Gianno Caldwell)
We have a massive year ahead of us — not just for this election cycle, but for generations to come.Public safety is shaped locally.Prosecutors, judges, city councils and lawmakers determine whether violent offenders are held accountable or released back onto our streets time and time again.
Christian would have been 22 years old today.I cannot bring my brother back, but I can fight to ensure fewer families endure the pain mine lives with every day.
onelink.me/xLDS?pid=AppArticleLink&af_web_dp=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.
America must confront its violent crime crisis now, before more birthdays go uncelebrated, more futures are stolen and more families are left asking why.
We owe it to Christian — and to every victim of violent crime — to do better.
![[aggregator] downloaded image for imported item #35072](https://newsview.top/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/newsom-gavin-1024x576.jpg "JONATHAN TURLEY: Grandstanding Newsom will stop at nothing to ride the rails to glory in 2028")
![[aggregator] downloaded image for imported item #35064](https://newsview.top/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/one-battle-after-another-2-1024x576.jpg "Will 'One Battle After Another' ride the anti-ICE protest wave to Best Picture at the Oscars?")
![[aggregator] downloaded image for imported item #35306](https://newsview.top/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/virginia-military-institute-cadets-1024x576.jpg "DAVID MARCUS: Only Hegseth can save storied Virginia Military Institute from woke state lawmakers")