Katika Travis was out at the mall doing some holiday shopping when she came across something she’d searched high and low for the past two years: a black coat from Guess, identical to the one her son Bryson loved but had been ruined during a fight at school. She’d wanted to replace it ever since.

But when she saw it, she had to leave, no longer able to bear being in public. Bryson Hudson was shot and killed in August, dead at 16, and the coat was a painful reminder of what Travis has lost.

“My son is gone forever,” she said. “I keep trying to say that to myself so I can understand. It’s like I’m speaking a different language to myself.”

Hudson is one of at least 22 teens between the ages of 13 and 18 who were shot and killed this year as of Dec. 9, the most recent date for which data is available.

The story continues at The Baltimore Banner:  Homicides are down, but Baltimore’s young people are being shot at a historic rate

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