KANSAS CITY, Mo. --The widow of a Kansas City attorney who was shot to death in Brookside on Wednesday is also president and one of the founders of Indivisible KC, a civil rights group that fights for issues like women's rights, access to healthcare, quality education and gun safety.
The night before her husband was killed, an Indivisible KC board member, Ann Becker-Schutte, said Emily Riegel was fighting against the same gun violence that claimed Tom Pickert's life.
RELATED: Kansas City attorney shot, killed in front of his Brookside home
Indivisible KC posted a blog reacting to the tragic shooting.
Beckert-Schutte said on Tuesday, Indivisible KC agreed to partner with the Heartland Coalition Against Gun Violence, a program initiated by Grandparents Against Gun Violence.
"One of the other members of the leadership team said it's all the stuff we have been working to prevent," Becker-Schutte said.
"This is so much bigger than our friend and her loss; this is really about the future of our country, and I know that sounds dramatic but it is genuinely what we believe," Becker-Schuttee added.
The Indivisible KC Board member explained that Pickert's murder has increased their resolve to push for change.
"This is a representative democracy, and it doesn't work if the people who are supposed to be represented are silent. It just creates a huge vacuum -- and special interest and dark money has proven that they are happy to fill that vacuum," concluded Becker-Schutte.
