MT. MORRIS TOWNSHIP -- Neighbors gathered Sunday afternoon to remember Laventez Phipps, 20. He was fatally shot several times Saturday afternoon.
“I can never see him again, I can never hold him again,” says Bridget Phipps, Laventez’s mother. She wants to know why someone would kill her son.
“Laventaz was my son, he was shot yesterday at the house,” says Phipps.
Gunshots rang out on Nasser Street in Mount Morris around 3:30 Saturday.
“It's a tragic shooting because he was a nice kid. He didn't bother anyone. He was a laid back child, every time you saw him, he was smiling,” says Phipps.
Police say it was an argument gone wrong. The 20-year old was shot dead in the front yard of his home.
“That was my friend. He's like a little brother to me. I'm going to miss him very much. It's just really hurting me,” says Torrance Flowers.
On Sunday, dozens of neighbors gathered to remember Laventaz. He leaves behind a young son.
“There's so many people here,” says Phipps. “So much love pouring in from all over,” adds Phipps.
“It really hurt me that I really got that call,” says Flowers.
While the pain and the grief consume these neighbors, they hope this vigil makes a difference and helps put an end to the violence.
“Stop the violence. When you take a life, you take a whole family,” says Phipps.
Police say they have a suspect in custody. They are not releasing his name at this time.
