Kalamazoo has been dealing with a public health crisis that has taken lives and left many still battling the effects of gun violence. This year, they’re making progress.
Rick Omilian remembers a day that changed his family forever. “He was very controlling and wouldn’t accept the breakup of the relationship that she thought she had made final,” he said.
On Oct. 18, 1999, their daughter Maggie Wardle, a sophomore at Kalamazoo College, was shot and killed by her ex-boyfriend, who then took his own life.
“First thing I think of in the morning is Maggie, [and she’s] the last thing I think about before I go to bed,” said Martha Omilian, Maggie’s mother.
According to Chief David Juday, gun violence rose nationwide around the time of the pandemic. In 2021, the Kalamazoo City Commission declared gun violence a public health crisis.
“I believe it’s because of the resources that were available and some of the social services that were available, you know, kind of had to come to a stop,” Juday told FOX 17.