A Fox News host, whose brother was fatally gunned down on the streets of Chicago nearly three years ago, revealed what he believes led to the tragic killing in an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail.

In June 2022, political analyst Gianno Caldwell lost his 18-year-old brother, Christian, to what he described as ‘senseless gun violence’ on the streets of their hometown in South Side Chicago.

Gianno’s life was forever changed that fateful day. 

The very day his brother was murdered, he put pen to paper, driven by a flood of profound questions – how could something so tragic happen in a society that claims to protect its citizens? 

Now, his new book titled, The Day My Brother Was Murdered, is set to launch exactly three years after the tragedy, and explores the roots of the violence that claimed his younger sibling’s life and what he believes is an urgent need for reform within the ‘broken’ system.

‘This has become much bigger than just about my brother,’ Gianno told the Daily Mail. 

‘I want people to have empathy for victims. I want people to see the egregiousness around the policies in which have been pushed by progressives – the ideology – which I believe is dangerous for this country,’ he added.

‘I want people to walk away with a roadmap for reform. It’s not just about how bad things are. People already know how bad they are. But I want people to also see this as, okay, there are solutions to these problems.’ 

On June 24, 2022, 18-year-old Christian was standing with a group outside a restaurant when three to four Black men, each with dreadlocks, approached them in a car.

In a matter of seconds, the men jumped out of their black SUV and abruptly opened fire – one of the bullets fatally striking Christian.

Gianno was in Miami when his sister Mia broke the tragic news, simply saying, ‘Christian is gone.’ At first, he didn’t understand what she meant – the magnitude of the statement too large to comprehend.

It wasn’t until she said Christian had been shot that Gianno’s mind began to process the reality – frantically wondering if his brother was still alive, calling the hospital, and hearing nothing. 

Family members rushed to the hospital, desperate for information that wasn’t being shared over the phone, while others headed to the scene, where a heavy police presence remained.

‘It took me reaching out to an elected official to make the call to see if he was alive,’ Gianno said. ‘And they informed the elected official of what was going on. That’s how we found out that he was actually dead.’

Gianno boarded a flight to Chicago to be part of the process, but he said working with the Chicago police quickly proved to be difficult. 

More than 150 people – including Christian – were murdered across the United States on that day alone.

‘The first thing the police officer told me when I talked to him, which was two days later, is they’ve had more cases come in since his murder,’ Gianno explained.

‘They’re completely overwhelmed in the city of Chicago,’ he added. ‘They’re short 2,000 police detectives to handle the current murder workload.’

According to Gianno, police repeatedly told him that Christian was ‘just in the wrong place at the wrong time’ – which Gianno said that in Chicago, ‘could mean lying in your bed when a bullet comes through the window’.

‘So this individual, from what I’ve been told that they were looking to shoot, had filmed two guys fighting,’ Gianno said. 

‘One of the guys got up really badly, and then this guy takes this video and puts it on Facebook,’ he added. ‘The guy who got beat up badly six months prior tried to kill him, because the video was on Facebook and he was getting beat up.

‘That’s my only real theory of the situation. It was over a Facebook video.’

At that moment, only one thought consumed him: How was he going to get justice for his innocent little brother?

‘I kept tossing and turning that night. I couldn’t sleep,’ Gianno recalled. ‘And then it came to me.

‘I got to tell people now because the people who did it are still out there. So around seven in the morning, I posted on social media what happened to my brother. And I got a call from Fox News immediately.

‘They were ready. They posted the story immediately. And the journey began.’

The book explores the reasons behind Christian’s senseless killing, shedding light on the national crisis of rising urban violence in America’s major cities and confronting hard truths about human tragedy in hopes of paving the way toward safer communities.

‘We do know why this happens every day. And we even know how to prevent it,’ Gianno wrote in the book.

‘This understanding just takes some work and painful truths… Understanding the root causes of both our broken justice system and the violence required diving into deeply uncomfortable topics – things I hadn’t expected to confront so intensely.’ 

One of the more difficult and controversial conversations the book addresses is the issue of so-called ‘Black-on-Black’ violence plaguing several communities. 

‘I understand why people hesitate to discuss it – it’s uncomfortable, and it can feel like betrayal to even bring it up,’ Gianno wrote in the book.

‘But these are life or death questions and ignoring this doesn’t feel like an option anymore,’ he added.

‘”Black Lives Matter” looks good on a banner – but we need to be more honest about whether liberal-led cities actually believe it.’

In addition to his powerful words, Gianno founded the Caldwell Foundation for Public Safety at caldwellsafety.org – an organization dedicated to building safer communities by addressing the root causes of crime and advocating for meaningful reform.

‘We’re going into schools to teach, you know, talk with children about violence and violent crime,’ he told Daily Mail.

‘We’re really just trying to fix a broken system, which I know is a big, heavy lift.’

When asked if his efforts were a way to avenge his brother, he simply replied, ‘No’ -but made it clear he is still seeking justice that, three years later, has yet to come.

For Gianno, justice means the full prosecution of everyone involved – while also honoring and furthering his younger brother’s legacy in the process.

Part of furthering his brother’s legacy involved working with experts to better understand both his own emotional despair and the deeper reasons behind the tragedy – all while as he deeply struggled to heal himself.

In one conversation with a doctor from Celebrity Rehab Team, which was also outlined in the book, Gianno asked, ‘How do I get beyond this? Because the pain is so severe.’

The doctor replied, ‘I’m sorry to tell you, but you cannot get beyond it. The only thing you can do that may bring about a little bit of peace – and I take this advice to heart – is to do something that furthers their legacy.’

In searching for real solutions, Gianno began studying cities across the country with low homicide rates, looking for common denominators that could be implemented elsewhere.

In one example, he pointed to Miami – a major American city – with a homicide rate as low as it was in the 1950s.

‘It’s incredibly important for us to examine places that are doing it well,’ Gianno told the Daily Mail. 

‘There is a way to do these things, do them well and do them fair,’ he added. I’m all for criminal justice reform. But what we’ve seen has become justice for the criminal. So we want to, of course, correct that.’

Since then, Gianno has been encouraged by those in leadership positions to consider a run for mayor or even the Senate – an idea he admitted isn’t entirely out of the realm of possibility. 

‘The thing about it is when it comes to these elected officials, you’re going to have to have somebody that’s incredibly brave who doesn’t care about getting reelected, who doesn’t care about being perceived in a particular light,’ he said.

‘They just want to be fair and tough on crime. That’s what it’s going to be to turn around that city,’ he added.

‘You’re going to have to go very hard in order to turn that city around. And the thing is, it seems like a lot of the politicians don’t have the appetite for the tough job that’s necessary.’ 

Through personal interviews and real-life stories, Gianno’s book offers a glimpse into lives lost too soon, while exposing the deeper historical, political, and cultural roots of urban violence – from corrupt leadership to failed liberal policies. 

He highlights how even the cities with the strictest gun control laws struggle against the influx of weapons from less regulated states.

Failed poverty programs, the breakdown of two-parent households, the decline of religion and sanctuary city policies that often shield criminals are examined in relation to tragic, every-day crime that takes the lives of hundreds each year – including Christian Caldwell.

The Day My Brother Was Murdered: My Journey Through America’s Violent Crime Crisis is published by Harper Collins and debuts on June 24.