PITTSBURGH — The case against a man accused of shooting and killing a recent high school graduate in front of his mother is moving forward.
During a hearing on Friday, Tristan Taylor’s mother, Jokima Brown, had to relive the moments her son was shot just feet away from her as she testified.
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“I keep telling myself. This is about Tristan. You have to stay strong and stay it through to the finish line for justice,” Brown said.
Ronald Stanford, 18, was arrested on a warrant for the shooting.
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During a hearing in his case, Brown went over the timeline of the night.
“That night has honestly bothered me ever since. I didn’t sleep a lot last night either,” Brown said.
She testified that she, her son, and other family members were walking home from a vigil for her nephew, who was murdered years earlier.
She told the judge Stanford and the two teenage girls he was with began yelling at her family, then police say he pulled out a gun and shot Tristan, who was just feet away from her.
He was able to run from the scene after he was shot, then his mother found him lying in a pool of blood.
While speaking in court, she broke down in tears, but made it through the rest of her testimony.
“Maybe God is using me and my strength to be a voice and speak out because he knows I’m one of those people who stand up for what I believe in, and I believe in getting justice for my son,” Brown said.
Taylor was supposed to be going to college this fall.
Brown told us that her son did not know the suspect.
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