Grieving mother speaks out one year after son’s murder, still pleading for answers

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - A Mobile mother full of emotion as she remembers the day, one year ago, when her son was gunned down.

Shaquita Montgomery, and other mothers, just want the gun violence to end.

MPD says 19-year-old Cameron Montgomery and his friend were ambushed at a busy intersection on Azalea Road on March 18th.

She says the last year has been a living nightmare.

“I want justice so I can have peace and Cameron can have peace,” she said. “Cause Cameron not at peace, cause I’m not a peace.”

Police say Cameron Montgomery and 16-year-old Jakobi Freeman were gunned down at that busy intersection.

Shaquita says every day has been filled with nothing but pain.

“Anger, hurt. I’m tired. I’m very tired. I want more justice and I know and they know it’s more arrest to my child and Jakobi’s murder,” she said.

But like many other mothers in Mobile...Shaquita isn’t alone.

Several young lives have been lost at the hands of gun violence in Mobile, and family members are pleading for it to end.

21-year-old charged with the murders of two teenagers who were killed in March

Cameron’s aunt Shenita Montgomery says not only one family is hurting, but two.

“We still grieving, we still sad, we still crying. I’m quite sure the family is going through the same because they’re locked up,” Shenita said. “So it’s been very hard. This has been a hard year. You learn how to move forward.”

That’s what prompted one mother, Nija Hill, to organize Mothers Involved Against Gun Violence.

Hill lost her son Chavan Scruggs in September of 2021.

A support group to offer comfort and hope for mothers suffering with the sudden loss of their child.

Now, as they try to keep both Cameron and Jakobi’s names alive they don’t want other mothers to have to go through this.

“He didn’t deserve that and they know it. He know it, they know it,” Shaquita said. “Cameron ain’t deserve that nor Kobi. They took him from me in the blink of an eye. I got 19 with Cameron. It gotta stop. It gotta stop.”

The Mother’s Involved Against Gun Violence rally takes place Sunday at noon at Figures Park.

They invite anyone who cares about a mother’s pain and making the city of Mobile safer to come out and participate in the rally.

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