NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - Police have identified 23-year-old Devin Bowles as the man killed on Lassiter Drive Tuesday afternoon.
Kia Christians spoke to News 3 on Wednesday as she gathered with family and friends to grieve her son's loss. She said Bowles is her youngest of five children. He leaves behind his own two sons.
Through tears, Christians told us she was out at the scene of the crime yesterday, "I just wanted to hold him and I couldn’t do it. They showed me a picture and I saw my baby laying there. Lifeless."
She wept with a local pastor who stopped by the family's house to pray and cried out, "What am I to do? I keep asking what am I to do. I just give it to God and I know he got us."
Pastor Thurman Leonard with Restoration and Faith Ministry has been in the area preaching since 1997. He said he has attended countless funerals for young men and women who die because of violence in the street. He wants the community to come together and put an end to the pain and suffering these families have to endure.
"We are supposed to be our brothers' keeper, not our brothers' killer so when I hear about these shootings it saddens me," said Pastor Leonard.
Bowles family plans to hold a candlelight vigil in the 800 block of Lassiter Dr. on Wednesday at 6 p.m. and another one on Saturday evening at Stuart Gardens.
