NEW ORLEANS — After an unthinkable tragedy left three small children dead this week, friends, family and neighbors gathered to remember Friday night - all while the call for justice for domestic violence victims grows.
WWLTV heard from the grieving mother who lost her children. She shared her emotions with the hundreds of people who came out to memorialize those she held dear and she asked her face not be put on the news.
"I loved them more than I loved my life. They were my everything. I did everything for them. Everything was about them. Everything that I breathe, I sleep, they were for me, and I felt like I failed them."
They were the cries of a mother hurting beyond measure. "They were my babies. I have to face the fact that I can't have them everyday."
The mother, now without her three small children, she said, "Ya'll know mommy coming, I know ya'll looking for me. Mommy coming around the corner. Ok Jo Jo. Ok Jayla. Ok Avery, mommy coming for ya'll."
The three kids were killed in a house fire overnight Tuesday on America Street in New Orleans East. NOPD says it happened after their father threatened to burn the house down. Officials say they found the 3-and 8-year-old boys and 5-year-old girl inside the house.
"I am always going to fight, because Jo Jo, Jayla and Avery are going to live, no matter what they are going to live through me. I am going to make sure, my babies."
Friday night, hundreds of people remembered the children, at a park just down the street from the home. As a memorial across the road from the house continues to grow.
Tiara Glenn told WWLTV, "My youngest daughter here that was her classmate, the youngest the three-year-old baby so we're just coming out and representation of the classroom."
Despite the pain, their mother is showing courage, "I would never give up on them, I will fight for them."
City officials were in attendance, Councilwoman Helena Moreno said, "Hearing the mother I mean; I don't even know if anyone can even try to understand what she's going through."
Balloons filling the evening sky, as New Orleans wraps their arms around this family.
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