With a spike in shootings in the city, community leaders gathered in Brooklyn Wednesday night to talk about ways to battle gun violence. NY1’s Lori Chung filed this report.

“He was actually trying to break up a fight and got shot, shot in his head," says Kenneth Jackson Sr.

Kenneth Jackson says his son and namesake was always a peacemaker before his violent death in 2007 at age 24.

Now, he and his wife, Susan, put their pain to purpose using their story to discourage others from picking up a gun.

"One gunshot doesn't just affect us. One gunshot affects the whole community," Susan Jackson says.

They joined others sharing experiences of loss, tragedy and regret at this anti-gun violence town hall in East New York.

“A police officer was killed. I served 37 and a half years in prison," one man who spoke said.

They were there passing on hard-earned lessons to the youth.

"We have resources in the community to really help guide them on the right path and giving them another opportunity to do something more constructive," says Sharun Goodwin, Deputy Commissioner Adult Services at New York City Department of Probation.

It's the second in a series of forums by the mayor's office coming as statistics show a nearly 20 percent increase in murders compared to the same time last year—an issue already too familiar for many here.

"I lost two friends, one 19 at the time. The other one was 18. And we lost them to gun violence right in the middle of the neighborhood,”

The forum was held in one of the 14 precincts that account for 51 percent of shootings in the city. That’s a figure people like the Jacksons are hoping to change by showing violence is a never an answer.

"The hardest thing to do was bury a child and not retaliate, but we talk about and share our story because it might save a life someday," Kenneth Jackson Sr. says.

"Since the death of my son—and I listen to hear what's going on, not just in my neighborhood, but across the country—yes, it is scary, it is frightening but it's also, this is a wake-up call," Susan Jackson says.

Other meetings like this held in the Bronx and Staten Island as we head into summer months when crime rate typically increases.