A Sanford woman says recent gun violence is just one more reason why she’s on a mission to stop people from resorting to shooting to solve their problems.

Jeannita Jones says she doesn’t want to see anyone else go through what she did.

“One second could turn into a lifetime of pain,” said Jones.

Jones’ brothe,r Keran Stanislaus, survived fighting in Afghanistan only to become the victim of a murder in Sanford in April 2013.

“I’m on a mission to save lives,” said Jones.

Jones says just a week before her brother was killed, he came up with an idea to solve gun violence he had seen in his community.

“He said we need to start a campaign called, ‘Put Your Guns Down and Put Your Hands Up,’” said Jones.

Jones says she working every day to breathe life into her brother’s idea.


Jeannita Jones says "Put Your Guns Down, Put Your Hands Up" is an anti-violence movement inspired by her brother, who was killed in Sanford in 2013.

“There’s no value to human life anymore, and it’s sad,” said Jones.

Jones now leads a non-profit with one clear message.

“Put your hands up and take it off the gun.  You don’t have to resort to pulling the trigger. Step back. Put your hands up and step back and think for a second,” said Jones.

For now her focus is getting the message out to as many people as possible. 

On the GoFundMe page Jones started, this is what she hopes her new group will do:

"Put Your Guns Down, Put Your Hands Up is here to focus on preventing gun violence in our Central Florida communities and juvenile delinquency. We will do so by partnering with Local Police Departments to collect guns anonymously once a year and offering various services, activities and after school programs to give our youth encouragement, inspiration, guidance in hopes that they will not become victims of society or pick up a gun to take someone's life and also provide members of our Central Florida communities uplifting events to enjoy."

Jones says she eventually would like to build a community center where young people have a place to go to be safe, and stay out of trouble.

“If I can just save one life, it will be great to me,” said Jones.

And she’s hoping her message will catch on.

“If you’re not part of the solution, then you’re part of the problem,” said Jones.

“I decided to become part of the solution.”

If you would like to help Jones, you can reach out to her through her GoFundMe page.

This Gofundme.com site is not managed by News 13. For more information on how the site works and the rules visit  http://www.gofundme.com/safety.