It was no accident that as family members of Alexis Wilson, Eric Lurry and George Floyd told their stories of loss and outrage at Prairie State College Thursday, more and more grieving people squeezed together and eventually surpassed the length of the table set out for them.

“This panel could be so much bigger,” said Katie Wright, whose son Daunte Wright was fatally shot by a white police officer in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota in 2021. “It is so much bigger.”

Between 74 and 140 people have died due to their interactions with police since 2016 in Illinois alone, according to data collected as part of the University of Illinois Chicago’s law enforcement epidemiology project.

African Americans, homeless people, those with motor disabilities and individuals with psychiatric conditions are more likely to be injured, suffer severe injuries and be killed during contact with law enforcement, the report found.

Thursday’s panel, moderated by Prairie State College Board Chair Camiella Williams, included about a dozen people advocating for police reform and accountability, most of whom experienced the loss of a family member at the hands of an officer.

They grappled with the challenges of instituting widespread and lost momentum in the movement toward police accountability in the years following the 2020 police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Panelists included Cara Wilson, whose 19-year-old daughter was shot and killed by Dolton police in 2021, and Lakeisha Brandon, whose 17-year-old son was fatally shot by an off-duty Chicago cop in Hazel Crest in 2017.

“A lot of times when people think about Illinois, they think about just Chicago, but they never think about the suburban communities and what we need,” Williams said, citing a Better Government Association and WBEZ report that found of the 113 police shootings in suburban Cook County from 2005 to 2018, not one officer was disciplined.

“It’s because there’s no oversight. Chicago has (the Civilian Office of Police Accountability). Cook County has nothing.”

Williams said she is fighting for that oversight, which includes taking investigation of police misconduct out of the hands of the Illinois State Police and creating a statewide system that tracks police firings to prevent officers from jumping to another department after serious offenses, an outcome found in the south suburbs.

“When we’re talking about solutions, it needs to be realistic, it needs to be tangible and something that we can do,” Williams said.

Mia Carter, a retired police officer and outreach manager for U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly, expressed her support for the family members and intentions to work with them to bring about meaningful change. She said she believes in changing the way police are trained, including requiring officers learn de-escalation tactics to better respond to situations involving people struggling with mental illness.

Some family members expressed frustration that Kelly has not been more vocal in the fight for police reform and said her office has failed to thoughtfully engage with advocates on next steps in that fight.

“I’ve called Kelly’s office three times — I haven’t received a call back,” said Carmen Day, who is still seeking answers after her son Jelani, an Illinois State University student, was found dead in the Illinois River in 2021. “I’m dealing with five jurisdictions … I don’t want anybody to go through what I’ve had to go through.”

When talking about their own next steps, many family members vowed to continue advocating for change both in Illinois and around the country.

“There’s nothing we can do for our sons at this point,” Katie Wright said. “So what can we do to protect your children, your grandchildren, your relatives, sisters, uncles and aunts. … And that’s within these policy changes that we’re trying to reform and to make sure that we can keep our community safe.”

ostevens@chicagotribune.com