ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – “For every one person killed, there are at least 10 who are immediately affected, a mother, a father, a grandmother, grandfather, brother, sister, husband,” said Pat Caristo, executive director of New Mexico Resource Center for Victims of Violent Death. 

After this recent surge in violent crime, dozens more New Mexicans are now processing the sudden loss of a loved one – and advocates are standing by.

KOB 4 visited New Mexico’s Resource Center for Victims of Violent Death to learn about how a week like this trickles down to them. 

“We get calls, ‘My child was killed two days ago. What do I do?’” said Caristo.

She sees it in the eyes of crime victims’ family members as the executive director of New Mexico’s Resource Center for Victims of Violent Death. 

“You get cared for because you’re not cared about anywhere else,” said Caristo. 

Her agency can’t provide money for a burial or other funding, but they support families in other ways. 

“We provide two things they can’t get anywhere else, or they don’t get anywhere. We provide caring, and we provide information and the other thing, we will advocate for them,” Caristo said. 

Caristo co-founded the agency more than 15 years ago. With a lengthy background in law enforcement, she’s able to help families understand what happened in the case, and why they are or aren’t getting answers from police.

She says families usually come to her 90 days after the death of their loved ones when reality starts to set in. 

“And then they say, ‘My family’s falling apart. I need counseling. I don’t understand what’s happening to me,’” said Caristo.

She believes it’s only a matter of time before the many families impacted by Albuquerque’s violent last week come through her doors. 

“It just makes me sad,” Caristo said. 

Especially when the family sitting across from her just lost a child to gun violence, something she’s seen plenty of this year. 

“One of the first questions parents ask when they come here. Now, how many children do I say I have? It changes everything,” said Caristo. “It should be the number one topic for school, for police, for the community, why are our children killing each other?”

Until she has that answer, the work continues.