Mother wracked with grief after 13-year-old fatally shot at sleepover
CENTRALIA, Ill. (KMOV.com) — All Jaianna Grant has left of her son is pictures.
Thirteen-year-old Jaden was shot May 4 after spending the night at a friend’s house, and now she’s left with questions about what she could have done differently.
Grant was was in Memphis when Jaden called to ask her if he could sleep over at a friends house, which she agreed to.
It was their last conversation.
“I said that was fine, and I really wish I wouldn’t have said yes,” she said. “I have a lot of guilt myself.”
Police were called to the 100 block of South Pine just after 5:45 a.m. and discovered the teen suffering from a gunshot wound to the head. He was taken to the hospital, but died two days later.
Grant got the call and sped from Memphis to the hospital, but never got to speak with her son again.
“It was just a sleepover,” she said.
Four teens who were present for the shooting were detained and later released.
On Monday, May 6, a 15-year-old boy was arrested in connection with the shooting and Grant said he pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter.
“I had to go to the first hearing before I could even go to my son’s funeral,” she said.
Investigators said their look into the incident is still in the early stages, and no progress updates have been provided as of May 14.
For Grant, there’s little closure she can hope for to assuage her grief. She’s left with loss and guilt, and the pain of imagining the life her son could have had.
“I don’t have him, he’s never going to grow,” she said, holding his picture. “This is all I’m going to be able to look at for the rest of my life.”
Photo Credit: kmov.com