MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A father of five was gunned down in a Whitehaven apartment complex and his murder left more questions than answers.
Valeria Robinson misses her brother.
She’s spent the last two months praying for answers.
“I was calling frantically and praying to God that is wasn’t him, and there had been a mistake,” she said.
Memphis Police say Alivn Powell, 41, was shot and killed at the New Horizon apartment complex in April 2018.
Officers responded to a shooting at the complex.
When they arrived, Powell was already dead.
“He was a wonderful brother. He was very dependable,” Robinson said.
Powell’s family learned about the shooting through social media.
“My brother’s 14-year-old daughter saw a picture of his car on Facebook and a body lying on the ground next to it,” Robinson said. “I left work immediately, and I went to pick up my oldest brother. We went to the scene at the apartments where this supposedly happened.”
When the victim’s family arrived at the scene, they weren’t ready for what they were about to see.
Powell was on the ground in a pool of blood.
His body was riddled with bullets.
“They finally came and told us that they had identified the car, and that it was his car,” his sister said. “We had to bury our brother without our mother, because she was too sick and fighting for her life. She didn’t even know that her son was dead.”
The family is holing on to faith that their brother’s killer will soon be brought to justice.
“There are still unanswered questions. We want to know why. We want to know who,” she said.
If you have any information related to the crime, call Crime Stoppers at (901)-528-CASH.