[Brooke Baldwin, Cnn Anchor:] Rich, talk to me about when you got the call.
[Richard Martinez, Son Killed In Gun Violence:] My son, Christopher Martinez, was shot and killed in Isla Vista, California, 9:27 p.m., in 2014. And Karen, his mom, was talking to a detective and she was asking him whether he was alive or dead and the detective didn't want to tell her and she insisted and I could tell from her reaction that he was dead and, you know, it's bad to lose a child but it takes you down to a place you've never been before.
[Baldwin:] Ronnie, what about you?
[Ronnie Phillips, Daughter Killed In Gun Violence:] I was asleep when Sandy got the call. The call came from inside the theater. The screaming was still going on. And it was Brent who was Jesse's best friend. He called her and said that had he been talking to Jesse just minutes before. So when she got the call from Brent, she knew something was wrong. So she asked Brent, where was where's Jesse? And Brent said, I tried. She said, Brent, please tell me she's not dead. And Brent said again, I tried. So the scream woke me up. I thought somebody was in our house attacking my wife, the scream was so horrible. And when I got to her, she was sliding down the wall telling me Jesse was dead. And I said, no, no, you're mistaken. She said, no, she's dead. Brent said she was dead, and Brent's a paramedic so he knows she's dead.
[Baldwin:] This is so hard. Pam?
[Pamela Bosley, Son Killed In Gun Violence:] My name is Pam Bosley from Chicago. My son was Terrell Bosley. On April 4th, actually that morning, I had got up and given Terrell a kiss before I went to work and he went to church and the next call I got was from his girlfriend. She was screaming on the phone saying that Terrell had been shot and I'm like, shot? He's at church. So before I even got to that I had spoken to Terrell and our last conversation was, Terrell, a man got shot, so be careful. Don't argue with anybody. He said, mom, I'm at church. That's where I'm at. I'm not going to argue with anybody. That was my last phone call with him. It was a phone call that changed my entire life and since then it tears you apart. You don't go it's nine years for me and I'm still suffering every single day. You don't get through this. You don't get over this. And I don't care that I have two more children. I still don't have Terrell.
[Baldwin:] And that was just the beginning of an evening of stories and conversation. We have so much more from my interview with these 40 people. Their powerful stories, the connections they've made with one another through grief and loss, that is next. Also, this
[Rev. Sharon Risher, Mother, Cousins Killed In Gun Violence:] I jumped on the phone and we started to cry and it just seemed like our souls came together in a commonality that I can't even explain.
[Baldwin:] Wow, reading all of your tweets. This is overwhelming. If you're just joining me, I'm Brooke Baldwin, and I'm sharing my exclusive interview with, well, they call themselves The Loneliest Club, 40 men and women who have lost people to gun violence. And there's something that exists in this club that I actually never knew about. And no one really knows about it unless you, too, have been affected by a shooting, if you've had a loved one who has been taken, as they say. A connection some described it as a calmness and understanding between one another, not having to explain the severe pain they carry with them every day, every hour, and every moment. It's these connections you all have made, right? You all had no idea this would be happening to you. You had no idea you'd end up with this commonality with people sitting next to you. So beginning with the two of you, Tom and Jane, I want you to tell me about your connection. Who reached out to whom? How did you all connect?
[Tom Sullivan, Son Killed In Gun Violence:] Down at the state capitol testifying, you know, over some of the commonsense gun bills that have been passed in the state of Colorado in the three years, you know, since the massacre at the movie theater. So Jane has been down there, I've been down there. We've done other speaking events and that type of stuff. So we're constantly in contact with one another. And so then when you have those abilities to connect with somebody when it's supposed to be a happier time in your life, it makes it so much easier and especially, you know, there's that unset, you know, kind of calmness that you can have between the two of you because you don't have to explain, you know, where you've been. She already knows and so we can just move on.
[Baldwin:] And I want you to tell me about the wedding dress.
[Jane Sullivan, Son Killed In Gun Violence:] Well, I work out of my home and I've been in bridal for a very long time. But I never thought that this would be a connection in the world of bridal, which is a fairy tale land. I was working on wedding gowns when I got the call. My husband called me and said there's been a shooting and I'm aware of shootings. I live in Littleton, Colorado. I pulled my children out of locked down schools at Columbine. And when he said that, it was like lightning bolt went through me. And I met Megan at one of the dinners, Tom's daughter. About a year later she posted on Facebook that she had not had a good experience at a big-box retailer and that she was, you know, unhappy. And I just posted, remember, I'm in bridal and this is the shop I work at and please come see me if you haven't bought your dress. And then they made appointments with me and customized it and it has the buttons on the back that were from terry's dress. And I was just so honored to be a part of that and so thrilled to see her smile. And it made a little bit happier connection for me knowing what they were going through with the trial because the trial was happening at the same time.
[Baldwin:] Coming to the two of you, seeing your hands locked. In the Charleston church, you lost your mother and two cousins.
[Risher:] Yes. I was at work when my nephew called and said, Auntie, there was a shooting at the church. And I said, what church? And he said, granny's church. And nobody had heard nothing. I called my ma's phone. I did everything I could. No answer. So but I knew she was gone because there would have been no other place in the world she would have been. So I knew either my mother would have witnessed this terrible thing or she was one of the people that died. I couldn't even drive home. And I didn't know yet officially but I knew in my heart, I had to stop my car twice because I was so nervous, I couldn't even drive. And to then find out everything, you know, Cousin Susie, and it was too much for two days. I'm in Dallas, Texas. Two days. I've wandered around in my pajamas watching the news because I couldn't take missing anything because I was hoping beyond hope that somehow they got it wrong, but I knew it wasn't wrong. I knew that she was gone.
[Baldwin:] Sorry. Give me a second. With the Charleston story, the world watched that courtroom. I want to say it was the day after, whenever he was taken in, you saw family member after family member forgiving him. We just learned last week that the prosecutor is, indeed, going to seek the death penalty.
[Risher:] Yes.
[Baldwin:] I would be remiss not to ask you, do you forgive him, and how do you feel about that?
[Risher:] I don't forgive him yet. Being a pastor and a reverend, I know that forgiveness is a part of life and what we do as a world to get past. But I'm not there. I don't want to forgive him. I don't want to have to say, I forgive you for killing my mother. I don't want to have to say that. And I know that the process will have to take place and there's no time limit on that process but I'm just not there yet. I'm not there yet and I believe the god that I believe in is patting me on the back saying, you take your time.
[Baldwin:] When you heard about what happened at that church in Charleston, Lucy, what was the first thing you did?
[Lucy Mcbath, Son Killed In Gun Violence:] I was weeping. I weeped, literally, on my knees for a good hour and a half, two hours. Because I felt like the last bastion of safety is a church. The next day when I was asked, what are you going to do, do you want to go to Charleston? I was like, yeah, I need to go to Charleston. Because I know firsthand what those people are feeling and I wanted to go there and I wanted to pray for them and I wanted to offer them the same very same support that I know those family members in that church prayed for me and my family when Jordan was murdered.
[Baldwin:] How did you meet her?
[Risher:] I received a bag full of cards and I was going through things and I came upon this envelope that had the address and then had my name written on the side so my curiosity says, open this. And then I open it and here's a two-page letter from Lucy. She left me her phone number and I didn't think about sending an e-mail. I jumped on the phone. And we started to cry and it just seemed like our souls came together in a commonality that I can't even explain. As far as the question of peace, it will only be three months, so I am raw. I am new to this cause. Peace will come.