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QC anti-gun violence group steps up action in wake of founder’s shooting death

“It’s tragic to think that people are out here just whatever. There’s no boundaries anymore. They’re just killing people,” says Te...

ROCK ISLAND-- On Saturday there was supposed to be a meeting at this Rock Island church on 24th Street to discuss how to combat gun violence. Instead, the leader of the group got a call.

"I got a call from some friends and let me know about the situation that had happened with a family member of mine," says Elder Daniel Teague Junior.

46-year-old Jason Blair Roberts, a devoted Davenport father, had died.

Roberts was cousins with Elder Teague.

"That was a good man. He wouldn't hurt a fly. No one deserves to die in the streets like that," says Teague.

Jason Blair Roberts was shot in west Davenport off of 4th Street early Saturday morning, and family tells me he was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"It's tragic to think that people are out here just whatever. There's no boundaries anymore. They're just killing people," says Teague.

Jason's family says he was with friends the night he was killed. They say someone knows something, but no one is speaking up.

"My prayer right now is that loyalty he showed friends in life, that they show him in death and help bring closure to this situation we're in right now," says Teague.

Jason was one of the founders of the Quad Cities group 'Boots on the Ground' a grassroots effort to fight the very thing that killed him, gun violence, an issue that's become commonplace in the Quad Cities.

"The Quad Cities took a major hit. We lost somebody that was a solution to a lot of problems in our community," says Teague.

It's time to pick up where Boots on the Ground left off.

"Time out for talking. I'm not meeting with people, none of that. We're coming. We're going to start organizing. We're going to start going into neighborhoods. We're going to start building relationships, and we're going to start making changes," says Teague.

They're pushing forward, harder than ever, knowing all too well what could happen if they don't.

"It's time to take action. Let's get together. Let's organize. Let's take our streets back."

The church in Rock Island off of 24th Street is the 'Boots on the Ground' headquarters. The basement flooded this past weekend because of all the rain.

Police are still investigating what happened to Jason Blair Roberts.

They are asking for your help cracking the case. If you have any information contact the police department or crime stoppers.

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