Mother whose son shot dead going to Washington - KFVS12 News & Weather Cape Girardeau, Carbondale, Poplar Bluff

Mother whose son shot dead going to Washington

EVANSTON, Ill. (AP) -

An Evanston woman whose 19-year-old son was shot to death will attend President Barack Obama's State of the Union address.

U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky said Friday she will take Carolyn Murray as her guest to the president's Tuesday speech in Washington. Murray's son, Justin, was shot dead Nov. 29 on the steps of his grandmother's Evanston home.

The Chicago Sun-Times reports that Schakowsky chose Murray because of her efforts with a community gun buyback program on Dec. 15. The project was begun only weeks after her son was killed. Evanston police collected nearly 50 firearms.

The 43-year-old Murray is a U.S. Navy reservist.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.