Hundreds of grieving Fresno County families come together for victims' memorial quilt ceremony

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Sons, daughters, brothers, and sisters.

Their faces now on patches, each stitched together and all victims of violent crimes.

"You wish you didn't have to be here for something like this," said Lisa Kauls.

Hundreds of grieving families came together to support each other at the 2019 Fresno County victims' memorial quilt ceremony.

This year, 10 more patches were unveiled, bringing the number of patches to a little more than 500 lives taken too soon.

"If you take the time to look at each individual patch, what the families have gone through, this is just a small token of what we can do to help them in the healing process," said Karen Roach with Fresno Probation Services.

"This was his freshman year...this was high school," Lisa Kauls shared her favorite memories of her son, 17-year-old Nick Kauls.

He was added to the quilt this year after he was shot and killed during a robbery in Old Fig Garden last year.

She's still going through the court process as the alleged shooter is facing felony charges.

"They need zero tolerance for these things, particularly what happened to my son," Kauls said. "If that had been in place this wouldn't have happened to my son."

The family of Diego Perez says their 14-year-old is also a new addition to the quilt, nearly two years after he was shot by a 13-year-old in Huron.

"We're here for support. Very supportive of me and my family," said Richard Sanchez. "There's evenings where I expect them to walk through the door and he doesn't show, and I realize he's not going to come back."

In the end, survivors held up a candle to honor their loved ones, and families continued holding on to each other in hopes of getting some peace and justice.