FAIRFIELD, Ohio — Six years after losing his 18-year-old son to gun violence, Antaun Hill Sr. is still working to prevent other families from experiencing the same pain.
As part of WCPO 9’s “Let’s Talk” series, Hill spoke with anchor Arielle Brumfield about his son’s death and his continued advocacy against gun violence and youth violence across the Tri-State.
WATCH: Grieving father turns son's death into a mission to fight youth violence:
“I want children to know that there is a better way other than taking each other’s lives,” Hill said. Hill’s son, Antaun Hill Jr., was shot and killed in 2020 at the age of 18. His father said a fight broke out at the YMCA in West Chester before the shooting.
Hill Jr. had graduated from Fairfield High School just two weeks earlier. He was committed to Independence Community College in Kansas, where he planned to play football in the fall.
“And my son is the one that was hit,” Hill Sr. said.
He remembers the circumstances surrounding his son’s death and the broader problem of young people having access to guns.
“They don't really have a target. They just like to shoot,” he said.
Turning grief into advocacy
Six years later, Hill continues to speak out about gun violence and youth violence.
He participates in community discussions, including WCPO 9’s Finding Solutions series, where community members have discussed ways to address violence and create better opportunities for young people.
Hill also works with inner-city youth as a case manager. He believes having adults consistently present in young people’s lives can help make a difference.
“They need somebody there with them and let them know that they are cared for, that they're valuable,” Hill said.
Carolyn Cousins Bates, founder of My Kidz, also works with young people in the Cincinnati Public Schools system who are needs-based or experiencing homelessness.
Bates said violence and anger can affect children from elementary school through high school, but she believes intervention and support can help.
“The whole violence itself, it's even in our high school, down to our elementary, to the element of anger and rage,” Bates said. “But it can be corrected.”
Bates said resources can sometimes be limited when it comes to providing children with safe spaces and affordable activities.
She believes schools and community centers need more resource coordinators who can help connect students with services, programs and opportunities.
“We have to make sure that kids know their worth,” Bates said. “When they know their worth, then they will soar.”
A future Hill will never get to see
For Hill, the work is also about his son's future — the one he will never get to witness.
“He'd be 24 this year, and I won't get to see what that could've been,” Hill said.
That question — what his son might have accomplished, who he might have become and the life he might have lived — remains part of Hill's grief.
“Just the imagining of what could've been will always affect me, truly,” he said.
Hill says he hopes sharing his experience can encourage young people to find another path before violence takes another life.
