COLUMBUS, Ohio — Mothers who lost children to violence will soon have a permanent memorial to honor them, nearly a year and a half after the city removed symbolic locks from the Rich Street Bridge.

The locks were placed there during back-to-back years of record homicides in Columbus. Mothers who had lost children to violence affixed the locks to the bridge railings as a public reminder of their loved ones and the toll of gun violence in the city. In March 2024, the city cut and removed the locks, citing structural concerns.

Malissa Thomas-St. Clair, who founded Mothers of Murdered Columbus Children in 2020, said the bridge held deep symbolic meaning.

“The Rich Street Bridge is one of the best views of the skyline,” she said. “So how we view that symbolically is within that city is where

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