Eddie LopezPeace March & Memorial:

Community leaders gathered on Wednesday, February 28, with the parents of children who have been killed by violence for a 2:30 p.m. press conference at Santa Monica High School, calling for an end to that violence and offering a five-point plan to combat the sense of hopelessness that often leads kids into a life of crime. Marking the one-year anniversary of the shooting murder of Samohi honor student Eddie Lopez, 15, his mother Erminda Lopez, together with the family of Miguel Martin, 20, who was murdered in Santa Monica on December 27, 2006, led a community peace march from Samohi along Lincoln Boulevard. Hundreds of persons – family and friends of these and other victims of violence, along with Samohi students – marched to a gathering and remembrance in Christine Reed Park (aka Lincoln Park), and finally a memorial mass at 6:00 p.m. at St. Monica’s Church. Pictured in these photos, addressing the press conference at Samohi, are Santa Monica City Councilmember Kevin McKeown, St. Anne’s pastor Fr. Mike Gutierrez, Pico Youth and Family Center Director Oscar de la Torre, and Erminda Lopez; also pictured are the march on Lincoln Boulevard and the gathering at Reed Park.