ATLANTA — The parents of one of two teenagers killed in a shootout that started over a social media dispute say their son was hanging with the wrong crowd. Three other teens were also injured in the shooting.
The family of 16-year-old Justin Powell say they reached out for help to get the teen back on track. They say he was placed on an ankle monitor for 30 days and that was it.
Now he is gone after a shootout at the Retreat at Greenbriar Apartments Saturday.
“I can’t live with my baby,” Powell’s mother, Natosha Hinton, told Channel 2′s Tom Jones, crying inside her home. She was in a lot of pain over her son’s death. So was Powell’s father, Erik Hinton.
“He was just a baby. If there was some talk, it’s just talk,” he said.
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Atlanta police say talk turned to gunfire, ending the life the Hinton’s 16-year-old son.
“I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what to do,” Justin’s mother sobbed.
Justin’s 14-year-old best friend Malik Grover was also killed. A 15-year-old boy, a 15-year-old girl and an 11-year-old child were transported to the hospital with injuries.
Police say some teens got into a dispute on social media Saturday. Both sides met up at the Retreat at Greenbriar Apartments that evening. Justin lives there.
There was an exchange of gunfire. The lives of Powell and Grover were cut short.
Atlanta Police Deputy Chief Charles Hampton says there are just too many guns in the hands of young people. Young people who are quick to pull the trigger.
“This should be a time we’re getting ready for the holidays but we have two families that will be planning funerals,” he said at the scene.
“Justin was just a baby. That was senseless. They say it’s over some social media. Who does that?” Justin’s father asked.
Justin’s family says he had been in trouble before and they tried to get the courts to help. But there was nothing long-term offered. But the family says Justin wasn’t a bad kid.
“He don’t rob. He don’t. He ain’t out here robbing, killing and stealing. None of that. He was just a baby,” his father said.
The family says Justin was hanging with the wrong crowd, but didn’t deserve to die this way.
Police are still investigating and there are surveillance cameras where the shooting took place.
A GoFundMe has been set up to help the family pay for funeral expenses their insurance won’t cover.
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