GIANNO CALDWELL: My brother would have been 22 today. We must defeat the violent crime epidemic
On Wednesday, Feb. 18, my younger brother Christian would have turned 22 years old.
It’s hard to believe that in just a few months, it will be four years since he was tragically murdered on the South Side of Chicago. Christian had just graduated from high school. He had his whole life ahead of him. He dreamed of attending UCLA. We even took a college tour together.
Instead, on June 24, 2022, my brother was murdered while standing with friends on a city street.
A black SUV pulled up. Several unidentified men opened fire. Fifty shell casings were later recovered at the scene. Three people were rushed to the hospital. Only two survived.
Police described it as "wrong place, wrong time." In places like Chicago, the wrong place and wrong time could be a person lying in their bed and a bullet flying through their window.
That phrase has haunted me ever since. Because four years later, not much has changed.
Nationally, crime has shown signs of decline over the past year, thanks to President Donald Trump. But in places like Chicago and other liberal cities, violent crime is systemic and stubbornly persistent. Last month alone, 123 people were shot in Chicago.
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Violent crime is not a partisan talking point. It is an epidemic sweeping our nation.
And for my family, justice has still not come.
I am blessed to have a career that gives me a platform and access — to policymakers, to media, to the national conversation. With that blessing comes responsibility. I refuse to let Christian’s face be forgotten or his story dismissed as an anomaly.
I’m deeply grateful to my Fox News family for allowing me to share his story and to remind America that what happened to my brother is happening every single day to families just like mine.
This is why I wrote my book, "The Day My Brother Was Murdered: My Journey Through America’s Violent Crime Crisis." While it tells my family’s story, it also honors the lives of eight other innocent individuals who were murdered on the very same day as Christian — across the country, in unrelated, random acts of violence.
They were different races. Different backgrounds. Different ages and life circumstances.
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Their only commonality was that they were innocent. And they were murdered.
This is not a race issue. This is not a targeted issue. This is an American issue affecting every single person in this country.
That reality is also why I launched the Caldwell Institute for Public Safety in June 2024, two years after my family lost Christian, alongside its sister organization, the Caldwell Foundation for Public Safety. Our mission is simple but urgent: to confront violent crime honestly and to tackle it at its root while ensuring victims and their families are the priority.
A major driver of this crisis is policy.
Across our cities, well-intentioned but deeply flawed policies have shifted the balance of justice — placing more rights in the hands of criminals than of victims. Soft-on-crime policies, weak enforcement and a lack of accountability have emboldened repeat offenders while leaving law-abiding citizens vulnerable.
On Tuesday, Feb. 24, the Caldwell Institute for Public Safety and the Caldwell Foundation for Public Safety will host their second annual gala at Mar-a-Lago, "Securing America’s Future: The Roadmap to 2026 and Beyond." The event will bring together national leaders, distinguished guests and concerned citizens with one shared purpose: confronting America’s violent crime crisis head-on and honoring the victims whose lives were taken far too soon.
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This evening is for people like my brother Christian and all victims of senseless violent crime whose names rarely make headlines but whose loss forever changes families and communities. We will honor them and work to ensure their names are never forgotten.
We have a massive year ahead of us — not just for this election cycle, but for generations to come. Public safety is shaped locally. Prosecutors, judges, city councils and lawmakers determine whether violent offenders are held accountable or released back onto our streets time and time again.
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Americans must get involved. They must understand the real-world consequences of soft-on-crime policies that give career criminals chance after chance — until one day, someone else’s loved one pays the ultimate price.
Policies matter. Enforcement matters. Accountability matters. When rules are weakened and consequences disappear, violent offenders are released again and again, and tragedy follows. We’ve seen this play out on camera across the country.
Honoring victims means more than remembrance. It means action. It means demanding leadership that puts public safety first.
Christian would have been 22 years old today. I cannot bring my brother back, but I can fight to ensure fewer families endure the pain mine lives with every day.
America must confront its violent crime crisis now, before more birthdays go uncelebrated, more futures are stolen and more families are left asking why.
We owe it to Christian — and to every victim of violent crime — to do better.