Mom of Smyrna teen killed one month ago looking for justice
“I know he thinks right now that he got away with murder, literally. But it’s not going to be that way.”
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - It’s been one month since a teenager was shot and killed running into an apartment in Hermitage, and his mother said she wants justice.
The video shows Barksdale frantically rounding the corner and opening the door of an apartment on the ground floor. While he’s trying to get inside, a person in a black mask with a handgun shoots at him at least seven times, unloading the clip. The gunman then runs away, followed by the sound of screeching tires.
Barksdale died at the scene.
“My son literally was an unarmed, 19-year-old kid with a broken foot and a bag of snacks running for his life,” his mother, Emily Flippo, said, “and it don’t sit right with me the fact that nothing has happened yet.”
Flippo said she thinks she knows who killed her son. However, he’s not in jail because police told her they’re still gathering evidence to arrest him.
“Would I want that other man murdered? No, I think it would be too easy for him,” she said. “I think jail would be too easy for him, too.”
Flippo remembers her son as “the family protector.” She said he had a daughter and was an older brother to seven siblings.
“Because my son is mixed, 19, tattoos, I don’t want people to classify or look at him as just a little young thug out here, because he was so much more than that,” Flippo said. “He’d be having this, like, such big, goofy smile on his face and just so radiant and so sweet.”
Metro Police said homicide detectives have strong leads, but the investigation is still going.
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