Apr 27, 2009 4:31 pm US/Eastern
DeFede: A Mother Targeted For Speaking the Truth
MIAMI (CBS4) ―
Lasonya Mills is a courageous woman. The mother of 16-year-old Brandon Mills spoke to me last week for a story marking the three-month anniversary of one of the worst mass shootings in Miami's history. Nine people shot, two fatally, including her son who was on his way to a friend's house when he was caught in the mayhem.
"I was patient and I'm still patient," she said of the search to find those responsible, "but it's like my back is against the wall each day. I don't want to have patience no more. I'm angry. I'm hurting. It's killing me. My son wasn't in a gang. My son wasn't in the street thugging out.
"Brandon was a good kid," she said. "He's not in the system. He's never been to jail. He was still in high school. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time."
And although there were dozens of people on the street on the night of the January 23 shooting, very few of them have been willing to come forward and cooperate with police. In fact, many of the very victims – the people who were wounded – are refusing to cooperate.
"If that's how the community is, a lot of us [are] going to be dead around here," she lamented in a CBS4 I-Team report that aired Thursday night. "There's going to be more shooting."
Her words proved prophetic in ways that cause the heart to ache.
Sunday afternoon a car pulled up to in front of Lasonya's home and sprayed those standing out front with automatic gunfire. Five people were shot in the drive-by shooting, including two more of Lasonya's children.
None of the people shot were seriously hurt.
The shooting may very well have been prompted by my story. Lasonya's determination to face those who shot and killed her son stands in sharp contrast to the attitude of those around her, an attitude that allows Liberty City to be a virtual war zone where gangs – and not the police – control the streets.
Shootings are so common in Liberty City, Miami Gardens and Little Haiti that they only make the evening news when there is something special about them – a remarkably high body count or a grotesquely young victim.
The story that aired Thursday tried to highlight how these shootings become part of a well-worn pattern – politicians decry the violence, police commanders call for a ban on assault weapons, and community activists hold meetings that few people who actually live in the community attend.
I called it Miami's road show of grief and outrage.
Sunday that road show added a new stop.
I spoke to Lasonya Sunday night. She was out of town when the shooting occurred and was driving home after receiving the type of phone call no parent should ever receive – let alone receive for the second time in three months.
We spoke again on Monday. "I don't know why they did this," she told me, still seemingly in shock.
Was the shooter sending a message to those who might come forward? Creating fear in a neighborhood that already knows far too much fear? Intimidating a woman who dared to speak out? They are all likely reasons. Lasonya Mills represented the one thing those who carry out this type of violence fears most – a woman unafraid to tell the truth.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Double Homicide In NW Miami-Dade
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