HAMPTON, Va. — The latest numbers indicate that homicides due to gun violence are escalating in one local city.
News 3 spoke with a Hampton mother whose son was shot and killed in front of her, leading her to call for change within the community.
"This is where he laid, right there. Every time, I look out my bedroom window I have to see the place where my son laid lifeless on the ground," said Dr. Sherri Watson, who lost her youngest son to gun violence.
Just a few feet away from her home, bullets flew, changing the mother's life forever.
"I'm just taking it one day at a time. I don't know what tomorrow holds, what tomorrow brings," said Dr. Watson.
Dr. Watson lost her 26-year-old son, De'Quan Studwell all because of an argument. Police say Studwell and the man who pulled the trigger were arguing before the suspect allegedly shot him.
What the argument was about remains a mystery.
"I saw that second bullet take him away from me. I saw his lifeless body hit the ground in front of me. That's the most painful thing I've ever endured in my life," said Dr. Watson.
She remembers her son as a talented cook who blessed the plates of many in Hampton, but most importantly as a loving son and brother.
Dr. Watson says she never thought her son would become a statistic as Hampton grapples with an increase in crime.
"It's really getting out of hand. These boys and girls are dying every day," she expressed.
In August, city officials said Hampton has had five more homicides in the first six months of 2023 than in the same period last year, which is a 38% increase. Since then, according to the Gun Violence Archive, Hampton has had two more homicides.
"When is it going to stop? When are they going to leave the guns alone? Do not pick them up," said Dr. Watson.
In an effort to raise awareness about gun violence and prevent other parents from experiencing her pain, she plans to have a march on Woodland Street in November close to her son's birthday.
