MACON, Ga. — Macon-Bibb County now sits at 35 homicides on the year, and one group is trying to address it with a public service campaign that starts with billboards.
"We're not here to invent a wheel, we're here to help the wheel roll a little better," says Pastor James Barker of New Beginnings Baptist Church.
He is just one person involved in a new campaign.
"We don't have a name, but we do have a slogan: 'Warning, stop the killing. Think before you shoot. Let's stop killing each other,'" says Baker.
Baker says this slogan will be plastered on 15 billboards across Macon.
Other groups involved include Macon clergy, the Bibb County Sheriff's Office, and Coroner Leon Jones, who has made strong statements on gun violence in the past.
"It just seems like people are numb to it. All I'm saying is stop the killing. If I can say it, everybody else can say it. We live here," said Jones in an interview from earlier this month.
Baker says they'll gather at Rosa Parks Square on Saturday morning to kick off the campaign and they'll also introduce a new service.
"We brought in a ministry, Life After the Storm, so we can start doing grieving counseling with these families. These families need someone to talk to," he says.
The event starts at 11 a.m. on Saturday morning.
Baker says people should bring balloons to release at the end, honoring the victims.