"I feel like I'm in the dark": Family of Uptown shooting victim waits for prosecutor to charge suspect
ROBBINSDALE, Minn. -- There is no amount of time that can heal such an immeasurable loss.
"I can't wake up and call my son," Malinda Thomas, whose son Khalil Bryant was shot and killed on February 15th, lamented to WCCO News. "A parent should not have to bury their child. A child is supposed to bury you. I feel robbed. I feel robbed. My family, we feel robbed."
According to police, Bryant and a woman were found shot inside a vehicle on the 2800 block of Colfax Avenue South. A gun was also recovered at the scene.
Five minutes later and one block away, investigators say a second man, Davanta Reid, was also gunned down in an apartment hallway.
Both Bryant and Reid died.
"You watch on the news, you see there's crime, you see murder. I would've never associated that with my son," Thomas said of Bryant. "Every single day I sit in this pain."
After the shootings, Thomas said she was pleasantly surprised by the care, thoughtfulness and thoroughness of Minneapolis Police detectives.
"They were very forthcoming with answers for us," she explained. "They told me there was video. They told me that there were people, witnesses that came forward who were open to giving the information they had and say what they saw. They said that they were confident that they had the right person. They were confident they had the right person."
RELATED: 2 shot dead in Uptown were gunned down in "same incident"
Indeed, the District Attorney's office confirmed a suspect in the case was arrested on February 22nd - one week after the shootings - but no charges have been filed related to Bryant's and Reid's death.
Contact with the DA, according to Bryant's family, has also been much more limited compared to their interactions with police.
"I want this individual to be charged. I want this individual to go to jail for the rest of his life," Thomas insisted. "I feel like I'm in the dark. I feel like I am in the dark every day that passes."
Mary Moriarty, the Hennepin County Attorney, declined WCCO News' request for an interview. A spokesman, Nicholas Kimball, however, said in a statement that the office is "deeply committed to achieving justice for the family of Khalil Bryant."
Kimball added the suspect remains in custody without bail.
"The suspect is in custody and we are closely coordinating with investigators to ensure the case meets the high burden prosecutors are required to meet to charge a criminal case," Kimball explained. "Law enforcement and prosecutors have different roles in the process and different standards that we each must meet to successfully do our jobs."
According to Kimball, when the case was first submitted in February, "the investigation was incomplete and the case was not ready for charging," though police "have done exceptional work gathering additional evidence" after following up on "additional investigative avenues".
It's also common, Kimball added, for prosecutors to need extra time to get a case from the standard of probable cause - when "the officer has enough information to have a substantial suspicion" - to proof beyond a reasonable doubt.
"Proof beyond a reasonable doubt is a highly technical standard that must consider the rules of evidence we must adhere to when a case is tried to a jury. It cannot rely on inadmissible evidence. It means that no reasonable person can disagree with the conclusion that the suspect committed the crime. All other reasonable explanations are eliminated."
For the Bryant family, they know they have no choice but to wait, but they're keeping the faith that it's all worth it.
"It will bring some peace to this family."
