A Washington D.C. mother shared her frustration with the city's growing crime crisis after her son was killed in a mass shooting over the weekend.
"It's so sad. I mean, I would look at the news every day and see this happening to other people. But when it hits, it hits a little different when it's your own," Tempie Satcher said.
"And God knows I don't wish this on no one. But like I said, I'm a very spiritual person and I know my God is able and I know He gives me the strength that I need and give me the strength to be strong for my family to be."
Satcher's son, Bernard "BJ" Hodges, was shot and killed on Saturday on Good Hope Road in the nation's capital.
On "America's Newsroom" Wednesday, Satcher said she saw her son about an hour before when he dropped his kids off to her home.
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"About an hour later, not even quite in an hour. I got a call from his sister, my daughter, and someone called her and said, B.J. is dead. They didn't just say he got shot. They said he was dead," she said.
"When initially hit me, I stayed calm because I had his children with me. So I couldn't really show too much reaction. But his six-year-old son, out of the blue, didn't know anything and just start praying. I mean, he was looking at video games and all of a sudden he dropped his little device and just started praying and put his hands together and said, pray for all mommies, pray for all daddies."
Satcher said she does not have "a whole lot of information" on the shooting, but officials are "just saying that it was just somebody driving by, and I still don't have all the of what actually happened.
Washington D.C. has seen 161 homicides year to date according to police data, which is a 28% increase over the same period last year.
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As crime continues to plague the community, City Councilman Trayon White held a news conference on Tuesday near the site of the shooting, calling on the community to do more in combating the crime crisis.
"I know those who live here know that we are clearly in a war zone and we're tired of this sh-t. And enough is enough. Excuse my language, but I want to be quite frank to the young men and young ladies we saying it's not okay for you to load up 30, 40, 50, 120 rounds in a gun and shoot up our community, because B.J. didn't deserve that," White said.
White even said it might be time to bring in the National Guard as the city continues to be battered by high crime.
"The crime is out of control and getting worse by the day. We must declare an emergency regarding the crime and violence in our neighborhoods and act urgently. It may be time to call on the National Guard to protect the children and innocent people that are losing their lives to this senselessness," Councilmember Trayon White Sr. said Tuesday at a press conference, WUSA 9 reported.
Satcher painted a picture of the tragic scene, speaking with host Dana Perino Wednesday.
"It was the most saddest sight that you ever, ever want to see. There were other bodies that was on the ground. And the first body that I saw, I was like, No, that's not my son. So I was a little bit in disbelief, like maybe they got mistaken identity or something like that. And then they said there were two other bodies that was on the ground," she said.
"Please, Jesus, please, Jesus, just let me go and touch my son. Just let me go and see him one last time, because I just saw him just an hour ago…I just got to praying. I said, if this was your son, what would you do? If this was your child, what would you do? Please just let me go touch my son. That's all I wanted to do. Let me touch my child. Let me touch my child."
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35-year-old Hodges was a father of four working three jobs to support his family. One of those jobs was an HVAC at MGM National Harbor. Satcher said her son was very frustrated over the deadly violence in his community and was passionate about education.
"If you ever was to go around in different neighborhoods and just see guys hanging out, you may notice there are no activity centers, there are no recreation centers. There is nothing like vocational schools, because that's one of the things that my son was very, very animated about was education," she said.
"So when you ride around the city, you just see people just sitting out, hanging out. It's a sad look. If I lived there in that area and saw this, I immediately would not want to live in that area because it's just a sad sight to see so many. I mean, it is a bunch."
Like other activists and lawmakers, Satcher is raising awareness of the crisis in her city and calling for a community response to rising crime.
"I want to keep BJ's name alive. I want to build a legacy. I would love to see a recreation center in his honor."
