Mom Who Lost Father and Brother to Gun Violence Works to Prevent Other Tragedies

Eunice Benavidez was 3 years old when she and her family of five left the Dominican Republic to pursue the American dream. They landed in New York City, where her father, Alejandro Guerrero, worked as a taxi driver to make ends meet. But in 1992, he was shot and killed in an armed robbery at age 42.

“It was hard for my mom becoming a widow and having three young children,” Benavidez tells PEOPLE. “I was the youngest one. And learning a new language when you’ve been here for less than two years — you’re by yourself, basically.”

Benavidez says her mother “worked hard to help us move forward and be able to move to Michigan,” where the family suffered yet another tragedy years later. Benavidez’s older brother, Alejandro Jr., was weeks away from his 15th birthday when his best friend unintentionally fatally shot him with an unsecured gun in 2001.

“My big brother went to a sleepover and he never returned home,” Benavidez says. That tragedy, she says, represented a “different type of gun violence that we didn’t even know was a danger.”

Now a social worker and volunteer with Moms Demand Action, a grassroots group within the non-profit organization Everytown for Gun Safety, Benavidez works to prevent gun violence and advocates for secure gun storage.

She says she became a volunteer after learning of the Everytown Survivor Network and connecting with others who have been impacted by gun violence.

“It’s really important to raise awareness that there are things that gun owners and also non-gun owners can do to keep their kids safe by securing their firearms,” Benavidez says. “And also by normalizing these conversations about gun safety and being able to ask other parents and caregivers, ‘Are there unsecured guns in your home?’”

According to Everytown for Gun Safety, gun violence was the leading cause of death among children in the U.S. in 2022. Earlier this year, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy declared gun violence an “urgent public health crisis.”

As a mother of three herself, Benavidez says she thinks about how she can keep her children safe in school, and does that by sharing information about secure gun storage with the school district and parents.

“This is a responsibility that falls on everyone,” she tells PEOPLE. “It shouldn’t just be the survivors, but every concerned adult can share the message.”

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August 26 through 30 marks the first annual SMART Week — a time when communities across the U.S. come together to spread the word on the critical importance of secure gun storage. 

“For me, this secure [gun] storage message means a lot if it helps another family not have to experience this heartbreak,” Benavidez says. “Because grief is lifelong, the trauma you experience is lifelong.”

For more information on safe firearm storage and the most effective ways to protect children from unsecured firearms, visit BeSMARTforkids.org.