MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Friends and family of 17-year-old Demarcus Wilson were gathering to honor his life Monday, days after he was shot to death.
Police say the Booker T. Washington High School senior was shot Friday when he tried to steal someone’s car, but his family says that’s not true.
“Being vicious, like hurting people and doing stuff, that wasn’t him,” said his mother, Sherry Tucker. “They’re making him like he’s out here robbing and should’ve been killed. He didn’t rob nobody.”
Police say Wilson was in a black SUV that pulled into Super Smoker’s shop on Appling Road on Friday night. They say Wilson got out and tried to steal a car.
The owner came out and there was a confrontation. Police say someone in the car started shooting and the owner of the car shot back.
But the family has another story.
“What’s been reported is not true,” Tucker said. “My son got shot on the inside of the car. He wasn’t even on the outside of the car. All that stuff put out portraying him like he was a vicious person, he’s not that.”
Tucker said her son was with friends when all this happened — possibly in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“I won’t just put it on the crowd. I ain’t trying to point no fingers or call nobody names. Those were his friends to him,” she said.
Now as she seeks answers from those friends, she wants the focus to be on the brother, student and son Demarcus was.
“He was a good kid, pretty down to earth. Very smart, this was his last year at school, very smart in honors. He was a great kid,” she said.
Officers are looking through surveillance video as part of their investigation. They haven`t filed any charges.
