VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — The young man who brought a smile to everything: that’s how the Speller family remembers 21-year-old Keyon Turner, a graduate of Tallwood High School in Virginia Beach.
“He was a great dancer; he danced all the time. The one thing about Keyon, he was the star in everything, even among his friends. He loved to be a mentor and show other people they could do it too,” said his mother, April Rena Speller.
Just three days before his 22nd birthday, Feb. 9, Turner was shot and killed outside his apartment on Mineola Drive in Virginia Beach.
Keyon Turner with his mother April Rena Speller (Photo courtesy: April Rena Speller) 
Keyon Turner with his aunt Brandy (Photo courtesy: Brandy Brown)
According to Speller, Turner tried to act as a mentor for a friend, offering a hand to his former classmate, 21-year old Treshaun Lamont Snipes.
Snipes was arrested by police Saturday and charged in connection with Turner’s death.
Speller is a Virginia Beach hotel manager. Turner was her front desk assistant and Snipes was hired a year ago, left, and returned three weeks ago as a night auditor. Speller said it appeared the two were getting along, although there had been friction from Snipe’s first stint with the hotel.
“We needed someone to work overnight and Keyon suggested Treshaun. So immediately we called Treshaun for the overnight position. We know that Keyon had not talked to Treshaun in that time [the past year]. I’m assuming he was pretty upside because they kept their distance for that whole year and he just popped up out of the blue and asked could he get a job. So we gave it to him. About two weeks into Treshaun coming in, Treshaun was offering to give Keyon rides home. He offered to take him to pick up some things after work. I guess Keyon thought his friendship was going to prevail from that point on, and they would mentor what was lost and broken for that year,” said Speller.
Friday afternoon, Speller drove Turner to his Mineola Drive apartment. Along the way and into the parking lot — where they sat for 15 minutes — they talked about Turner’s plans to celebrate his 22nd birthday on Tuesday, Feb. 9 in Washington D.C.
“Keyon got out of the car. I wanted to wait for him to get in the house. This is my normal routine, to make sure my kids get into the front door, but we had sat out there [in the parking lot] for so long, I just drove off down the street. When I turned on to Indian River Road, I see an ambulance coming and a police car,” she recounted.
Later, a cousin who lives in Detroit called to say he had read on Facebook that Turner had been shot. Speller, fearful and distraught, drove around looking for her son and eventually ended up at a Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, where doctors broke the tragic news.
“By the time I get to Sentara, after running around looking for him because no one would tell me where he was, he had no brain activity at all and they were basically telling us that there was nothing they could do for him,” said Speller.
Speller says Turner was shot in the back of his head as he turned to unlock his front door. Early Saturday morning, police arrested Snipes, the former high school classmate.
Speller believes jealousy played a role in her son’s death.
“We’re all in pain. We cannot believe that this man being jealous would take him away from us for nothing. For nothing, he just went and shot my son in the back of the head brutally, a senseless crime. It doesn’t make any sense,” Speller alleged.
Speller says she was interviewed by police about a possible motive.
“I want everybody to know what my Keyon meant to us. He was not a trouble maker. He was not selling drugs. He was not into anything illegal. He was a good person,” she said.
Speller says her son had plans to open a clothing line and a kennel.
Instead of a birthday celebration, the family is now planning a celebration of Turner’s short life.
Loved ones have established a Cash App, $SisApril, for those who wish to contribute to funeral expenses.
Beach Funeral and Cremation Services is handling arrangements.
