A family is demanding answers after a Chicago teen, 15-year-old Sincere Cole, was shot 24 times at a gas station near his home. 

His aunt and legal guardian, Brandy Martin, joined “Fox & Friends First” to discuss her nephew’s killing, questioning how officials can be so stringent on COVID-related guidelines as the crime surge continues in various cities.  

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“How is it that we can put so many guidelines on protecting each other from germs, and it’s been around forever, and we can’t put a stop to gun violence and protect each other from ourselves?” Martin questioned during the interview with host Carley Shimkus. 

Martin said the city desperately needs to replace Mayor Lori Lightfoot, arguing many people in her community have lost hope because they have been “let down so much by the system.”

“Here in Chicago, first off, we need to change by getting a new mayor,” Martin said. “We need someone who cares about our city. We need city officials who care and not just receive funding for our areas.”

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Elizabeth French, in white, and her son Andrew, left, follow the casket of her daughter, Chicago police officer Ella French, after a funeral service at the St. Rita of Cascia Shrine Chapel Thursday, Aug. 19, 2021, in Chicago.(AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File)

“I live in what you would call a poverty-stricken area, and most of the time those areas are forgotten about,” she continued. 

Martin said she still has not received any new information on her nephew’s murder and has not heard from the detectives involved in his case either. 

“Once you lose a child, you now have to become a detective, the judge, you know, the private eye and everything like that, including a spokesperson,” Martin stated. “The dead can’t speak for themselves, so we have to stand up and do something.”

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“I’m just a person that cares, and I’ve been affected,” she continued. “I actually cared before my tragedies, I lost my daughter to gun violence in 2019 the same week I lost Sincere Cole’s mother.”

Chicago endured 800 murders last year, a significant spike since the year before, and officers were able to solve around half as the city continues to grapple with a dangerous cop shortage. 

Criminal sexual assaults, theft, and motor vehicle thefts increased in 2021 compared to the year prior.