NEW ORLEANS — The last two days for Anndrea Robinson have been a nightmare she wishes wasn’t reality.
“I keep seeing his face, saying, ‘Momma help me.’ [I] keep seeing his face saying, ‘Momma I didn’t do nothing wrong,’” said Robinson.
That face is of her son, Raynard Williams, Jr., 15. She last talked to him Monday evening.
“He was at his friend’s house. He was playing a video game,” said Robinson.
Hours later she got a phone call.
“The only thing I got they were saying was that my son was dead. He was lying on the ground dead,” said Robinson.
When she got to the intersection of General Meyer Avenue and Murl Street in Algiers, she realized her only son had been shot.
“My child was still lying on the ground. He was still lying there,” said Robinson.
Williams was a freshman at L.B. Landry High School. He wanted to play basketball and dreamed of becoming a drum major. Music was his way of expression and video games created a bond with his younger sister, Ray’anna Williams.
“Sometimes we played Fortnite together, sometimes he played Call of Duty,” said Williams.
Williams, 14, says her brother was her protector.
“Everybody keeps saying, ‘Sorry, it’s going to be ok,’ but to me, it don’t feel ok because it’s not going to bring him back,” said Williams.
“How do we keep losing children that are just starting to live,” said family friend Michael Willis.
Willis heard the gunshots that night. He’s the founder of H.O.P.E, a community organization that helps New Orleans youth. He says violence against or committed by youth is too normalized.
“When does it stop and then when do we take a sense of urgency to really invest into not only our youth but into the community and also treatment,” said Willis.
According to the Metropolitan Crime Commission 35 of the city’s 218 homicide victims last year were juveniles. For Ray’anna, no situation calls for violence.
“It’s never that big for you to pull out a gun and shoot somebody,” said Williams. “That’s why I’m hurt. I’m always going to have this pain.”
A pain this family wishes on no one.
“I don’t want another mother to sit where I’m sitting at,” said Robinson.
That’s why Robinson just wants the violence to stop and has a message for the person who killed her son.
“I forgive them. I forgive them,” said Robinson. “I hope they get the love that they need. I hope they find in their heart to understand that because it’s not me you have to answer to. It’s God.”
As of Wednesday afternoon, New Orleans police said there were no updates in this case.
If you happen to know anything that can help investigators, call Crimestoppers.
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