Grieving Mother Speaks Out After Teens Arrested For Killing Her Son
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- A grieving mother is speaking out after three teenagers are accused of shooting and killing her son during a robbery at his apartment - a robbery that Miami-Dade police say was pre-arranged.
"Tony was a good person," said Helen Fox, whose 49-year-old son Tony Conway was shot in the stomach inside his apartment just after 3 p.m. Wednesday at the Silver Blue Lake apartments at N.W. 13th Ave. and N.W. 103rd Street.
"My son had some mental problems," Fox told CBS4's Peter D'Oench. "Other than that he was a good person. It is so sad and so senseless. I don't know what happened with this robbery. I don't know what happened. They broke in. Tony always had a beautiful smile. I can't believe it. He was a good guy."
"These are young children that did that," she said. "I am so hurt. My heart is so heavy. I don't know what has happened to the next generation, to do something like that. I am 69 years old and I have never had a gun in my hand. I'm just so sad for their parents too. I can't imagine what they are going through."
Police say when they arrived at the apartment complex, Conway was curled up in a "fetal position." He died on the scene. A police report says the teenagers had made arrangements to meet with him at his apartment. When they got there, he was not there. They reportedly used a key that was in a hiding place to get inside.
Police say Conway was ambushed.
"I just want to know why they did this," said Fox. "I just want to know why."
Police say the teens fled in a car and police arrested them after getting a good description of the vehicle.
Those arrested include 17-year-old Travis Charlite of Northeast Miami-Dade, 16-year-old Dashera Davis of Homestead and 16-year-old Shawntera Jackson of Cutler Bay. They are charged with first-degree murder and armed robbery.
All three suspects appeared in juvenile court. The state plans to charge all three youngsters as adults. Jackson was given an assistant public defender and will face another hearing on January 26th.
D'Oench reached out to the guardian of Jackson and the foster-mother of Davis but they did not return his phone calls.
Police say the female suspects gave detailed video statements describing all of their involvement in the crime and a description of the firearms used that matches the handguns that were recovered.
Records show that Conway had been arrested before on charges including robbery, assault with a deadly weapon, stalking and battery.
Helen Fox responded to that by saying, "He was in trouble before but all the trouble involved his mental problems. When he was on his medication, he was ok."
"I just can't believe what happened," she said. "I just can't believe it. I remember his smile from his graduation picture. I had 2 sons. Now I just have one. This makes no sense at all."
Fox said she was hoping to find out more information from detectives in this case.