{"id":15836,"date":"2012-07-26T16:33:09","date_gmt":"2012-07-26T20:33:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/?p=15836"},"modified":"2012-07-26T16:33:45","modified_gmt":"2012-07-26T20:33:45","slug":"mom-needs-help-to-bury-teen-killed-by-cops","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/?p=15836","title":{"rendered":"Mom Needs Help To Bury Teen Killed By Cops"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ms. Kethessa Fordoms<\/strong> said she\u2019s heard the Tampa Police Department\u2019s report of what happened to her son, Javon \u201cJJ\u201d Nea<\/strong>l, and she\u2019s also listened to residents and witnesses at Central Court Apartments.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, two Tampa Police officers shot and killed 16-year-old Neal<\/strong> after he reportedly ran from them, then later threatened to shoot them with a high-powered shotgun. The shotgun was found on the ground near a stairwell at the complex.<\/p>\n

\u201cI still don\u2019t know exactly what happened,\u201d said Ms. Fordoms<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know why they had to shoot him. I\u2019m upset they were trying to make my son out to be some kind of animal they had to put out of its misery.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t believe he was running from the police, and I believe they could have stopped him without shooting him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms. Fordoms<\/strong> said because \u201cJJ\u201d<\/strong> was a young Black male, she feels his life meant nothing to them. \u201cTo shoot him that many times is cruel. They kept shooting him after he was on the ground. After he was shot, they wouldn\u2019t let me near him. They just stood there and let him die. I\u2019ve lost my son over a stupid misunderstanding.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms. Fordoms<\/strong> said her son never carried a gun, and she has no idea where the shotgun came from. \u201cAs far as I know, \u201cJJ\u201d<\/strong> had never touched a gun before. I never had one in my house.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tampa Police spokesperson, Laura McElroy<\/strong>, said on the day of the shooting, their office received a call of a fight at complex at 6 a. m.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt 12:20 p. m., we got a call of another fight at the complex, and at 2:30 p. m., we got a call of shots fired at the complex. When officers arrived, they found shell casings in the parking lot area.<\/p>\n

\u201cA victim of that shooting showed up at 3:30 p. m. to St. Joseph\u2019s Hospital with a shoulder wound.\u201d<\/p>\n

McElroy<\/strong> said at 7:21 p. m., a distressed citizen called to say shots were being fired at the complex again, and gave a description of the person firing the shots.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen officers arrived, they spotted someone matching the description of the shooter. He walked away when the officers approached him, and when they told him to top, he ran into the courtyard of the complex, then into a staircase. He turned away from the officers on the third floor, and they reported seeing him pulling something from his pants leg. He turned around, and pointed the shotgun at the officers.\u201d<\/p>\n

McElroy<\/strong> said a teenager has no business with a dangerous weapon like this, and that it\u2019s tragic a 16-year-old was armed with such a dangerous weapon, and pointed it at the officers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere has been misinformation circulated about the incident, and according to a witness, the officers had no choice but to fire their weapons.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnyone out there who claims to be a witness needs to come in and give us a sworn statement.\u201d<\/p>\n

McElroy<\/strong> said Neal had been seen in the parking lot with the gun in his pants leg prior to the incident with the police. She also reported that no drugs were found on Neal or at the scene.<\/p>\n

Ms. Fordoms<\/strong> said due to a problem with her son\u2019s insurance policy, the family will need help with funeral arrangements.<\/p>\n

There was a donation rally held in West Tampa Wednesday night, and Ms. Fordoms<\/strong> said she appreciates the support the family has received.<\/p>\n

Anyone who wants to make a donation to help with \u201cJJ\u2019s\u201d<\/strong> arrangements, can contact Ms. Fordoms<\/strong> at (813) 952-6762. Gudes Funeral Home is assisting the family at this time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ms. Kethessa Fordoms said she\u2019s heard the Tampa Police Department\u2019s report of what happened to her son, Javon \u201cJJ\u201d Neal, and she\u2019s also listened to residents and witnesses at Central Court Apartments. On Sunday, two Tampa Police officers shot and killed 16-year-old Neal after he reportedly ran from them, then later threatened to shoot them […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":210,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","pmpro-has-access"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/210"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15836"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15836\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}