Tonight, a 7-year-old girl in Austin joined a list of teenagers and children whose hopes and dreams were ended by the barrel of a gun.

As families gather to commemorate the founding of our nation, we must ask ourselves: is this who we are as a city or as a country? We cannot grow numb to this. We are making progress in slowing shootings, but we have to do better, every single one of us.

We must stop the violence before it starts by investing in our children, our neighborhoods and our schools.

We must continue to invest in our street outreach work, in police-community relationships, and in healing those who have been harmed by violence so that we can stop the cycle of retaliation.

As a city, we must wrap our arms around our youth so they understand there’s a future for them that isn’t wrapped up in gun violence.

This has happened for far too long in our communities. I call on anyone with information on these incidents to come forward or submit a tip anonymously at http://cpdtip.com . Those committing these senseless acts of violence will be held accountable.