COLUMBUS (WCMH) – Months after her own 14-year-old son was killed, a Columbus mother is still looking for answers and calling for an end to the violence.

Dayvion Burt was shot and killed in February.

“First of all, put down these guns,” Bonnie Burt, Dayvion’s mother, said. “Stop the violence, you know what I’m saying? Put these guns down.”

At the time, Dayvion’s killing was the 26 homicide in Columbus for 2021. Since that time, there have been 27 more.

Dayvion would have turned 15 last week. Burt said her son loved playing jokes and just wanted to see other people happy.

“He loved making people laugh,” Burt said. “He clowned around a lot, he just wanted to see people happy.”

He was shot and killed on Tennyson Boulevard back on Feb. 10 in the middle of the day.

“They took his life away from him,” Burt said. “He had so much to offer, but they snatched his life away from him before he could even figure out what he wanted to do.”

Two months later, no arrests have been made and his family wants that to change.

“I want justice,” Burt said. “He deserves justice just like the next person does.”

The family is in favor of more productive programs for children. They’re also calling for an end to violence because they don’t want other families to experience what they’ve been through.

According to Columbus Police Deputy Chief Tim Becker, this year, there have been 18 homicide victims under 21 years old, adding that seven of 26 identified suspects are under 21 as well.

“It’s sad that the kids out here killing kids,” Burt said. “It’s kids killing kids. Normally, the kids supposed to be burying the parents, not the parents burying the kids. A 14-year-old funeral, that was hard within itself because he’s supposed to be burying me, not me burying him at 14.”

This week, Becker announced there will be a new investigation team working 7 p.m. to 3 a.m., the period of the day when many homicides occur.

So far this year, there have been 53 homicides in Columbus. At this same time last year, there were 29.