Family and friends of LaTroy Harris launch ‘I Will Not Die to Gun Violence: The LaTroy Harris Initiative’
On Wednesday, February 4, 2026, friends and family of LaTroy Harris gathered to introduced the “I Will Not Die to Gun Violence: The LaTroy Harris Initiative.” The initiative was announced at a press conference that began in an unconventional way – with a skit depicting the devastation families face after losing a loved one to gun violence. The program is the work of Monte Mabra, Harris’ brother.
“I Will Not Die to Gun Violence: The LaTroy Harris Initiative” is a 10-week program designed for people involved in gun-related cases and includes meetings with police, paramedics and structured self-reflection.
What began as a brother’s refusal to surrender to revenge evolved into the first program of its kind—a 10 week, 20 session curriculum designed to interrupt the cycle of retaliation before it begins. The curriculum does more than teach conflict resolution; it challenges the emotional reflexes that fuel gun violence, urging participants to confront anger, trauma, and the lure of retaliation. As word spread, the initiative drew the attention of newsrooms, radio hosts, podcasters, and community leaders. Interview after interview, Mabra repeated a sobering truth: every gun death drains Wisconsin of $1.2 million, and every non fatal shooting costs $644,000. These figures—drawn from analyses by Ted R. Miller and colleagues using CC fatal injury data and HCUP non fatal injury data—are the same numbers used by EveryStat/Everytown Research to calculate the state’s gun violence burden. But for Mabra, the cost is not measured in dollars. It is measured in empty chairs at family tables, in children who grow up without fathers, in communities conditioned to brace for sirens.
Support began to gather around the initiative. Attorney Michael Hupy, of the Hupy & Abraham law firm and president of Crime Stoppers in Milwaukee, posted a $25,000 reward for information leading to Brown’s arrest. He also contributed a private amount to launch the first 10 week session for data collection. Reid’s New Golden Gates Funeral Home stepped forward as well, covering part of the memorial service and contributing to the initiative’s data collection efforts. The City of Milwaukee’s Community, Wellness, and Safety division added resources and support, signaling institutional belief in the program’s mission. But the heart of the initiative remains Mabra’s conviction that forgiveness is the first step toward healing—a deliberate act of self healing that interrupts the cycle of violence. He created the curriculum not only to honor his brother, but to restrain his own instinct for retaliation—a personal act of resistance against generational patterns of harm.
Today, the initiative is accepting referrals, welcoming: • Youth ages 12–17, male and female • Adults ages 18–45, male and female, who have a gun case, are awaiting sentencing, or whose families fear they may be pulled toward violence
The program stands as both memorial and movement—an effort to ensure that LaTroy Harris’s story does not end with the sound of gunfire but continues through the lives it saves. For information on enrollment please contact (414) 306 – 2107.
