SUFFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — The images are haunting — what a 7-Eleven clerk in Suffolk saw more than four months ago, right before he was shot and killed.
To this day, police haven’t arrested either of the two assailants.
20-year-old Ketron Smith was shot and killed at the 7-Eleven store on Carolina Road in Suffolk.
You can’t see the suspects’ faces in the images, but you know what they’re doing.
They are killing a man.
These camera images of two men would be the beginning of the end of Smith’s life, gunned down in this Suffolk 7-Eleven around 12:30 a.m. May 5.
His mother, Ebony Powell, remembers racing down to the store, and speaking to the person who found her son.
“It was like he walked into the store, and saw my son on the ground,” Powell said, “and he ran out and called police.”
We don’t know how long he had been on the floor before he was found.
The images most horrifying?
The ones that show guns drawn, the men coming into the store, and then an image with both men standing above Smith and shooting down on him,
“I didn’t know my son had enemies because he got along with everyone,” Powell said. “There’s something more they aren’t telling me right now.”
The picture Powell prefers to look at is the one of her with her sons — everyone smiling and happy.
Suffolk Police told 10 On Your Side that robbery was not the motive, leading the man’s mother to believe her son was the victim of a targeted attack.
“But I just feel that he was targeted because you all didn’t take anything,” Powell said. “You started shooting at the time you got to the door.”
Smith had been in trouble previously. 10 On Your Side found court cases that included charges of:
- Failure to appear
- Possession of a firearm by felon
- Violent felony possession
Smith was killed 2½ weeks before he was to appear in court on the possession charges and a failure to appear.
His mother wasn’t aware of all this, but said she wondered.
“Yes, what is that he did for them to hate him that much,” Powell said. “Was it that he was going to tell it?”
Suffolk Police would not comment on this ongoing investigation.
“The police have a lot of evidence of who the two guys were, down to the names,” Powell said. “They know they killed my son. They are basically telling me they are waiting on harder evidence before they actually arrest them.”
10 On Your Side asked her how she knew police know the names of who did this?
“Because they told me their names,” Powell said.
Mom talks about how the killing has changed the quality of life is gone.
“It’s hard. I can’t sleep. I can’t work,” she said. “I get off work early because I break down knowing, running through my mind, how my son got shot.”
The family claimed they haven’t heard from 7-Eleven. We reached out to 7-Eleven, but they did not return our email.
If you know anything about this case, call the Crime Line at 1-888-LOCK-U-UP.