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A Chattanooga mother tries to understand after her fifteen year old son is killed by police.
It happened Tuesday night in East Lake Courts after police say the boy refused to put down his gun.
Grieving mother Gloria Duncan is devastated by the loss of her youngest son Alonzo O'Kelley, "I never knew he had a gun."
The fifteen year old was shot by police around 8:30 Tuesday night, "I know my son wasn't no angel, I'm not gonna say he was an angel. But to my knowledge he had threw the gun..."
Chattanooga Housing Authority police were responding to shots fired when O'Kelley, Dooney to his friends, was shot.
Friend & Witness Thaddeus Pollard says, "It was a guy in a black truck, they was shooting at each other. And then Dooney had run back in the projects and guess he had seen the police so he turned back around and ran back out. And the police told him to put down the gun. He threw down the gun and took off running. He shot him in the back four times."
Police tell a different story...They say they have recordings of Lt. Erik Reeves repeatedly ordering O'Kelley to drop his gun...and Reeves says he only fired when that gun was raised.
CHA Police Chief Felix Vess says, "Lt. Reeves had to make a split second decision and he shot the suspect. And, I mean, during that time he was protecting life."
Police say O'Kelley died a short time later from a single gunshot to the upper body.
Multiple shell casings and a gun believed to be the suspect's were recovered from the scene.
Another juvenile was also taken into custody.
Chief Vess says, "When you have people running around out there with guns, shooting at each other... ...law enforcement agencies around this city are going to do what they can to protect life."
Lt. Reeves is on paid administrative leave while the investigation continues.
But in a neighborhood where many fear police it's one more reason for concern...
Pollard says, "I'm scared of the police now. I don't think they coming to help us. I think they coming to kill us."
...And Gloria Duncan wonders if things could have been different, "I'm waiting to see is the truth gonna come out...That's all I want. All I want is the truth."
Police say 11 people were shot in 7 different incidents of violence just last month in Chattanooga.
Meanwhile, we hope to hear police recordings of the incident for ourselves... Next week.
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