NORFOLK, Va. — Fun... Loving...
That's how Ny'Shell Traynham desribes her son, Amir Burnette, 14, who was a student at Norview Middle School.
"He has a happiness and a lovingness that you would never be able to replace," Traynham said. "He really loved football. He danced a lot. Even started rapping."
Watch: Norfolk police arrest man in shooting death of 14-year-old
A young man who had a talent and high aspirations.
But in September 2023, a shooting in the Crown Point neighborhood on Wyngate Avenue.
"I can't even see my son become a man," Traynham said.
Authorities said Albert J. Sutton, 27, was showing a gun to some children when it accidentally went off as he was putting it into his holster.
The bullet struck Amir who later died at the hospital.
Sutton was eventually arrested and charged with involuntary manslaughter and reckless handling of a firearm.
In early Sept. 2024, a year later, Sutton pleaded guilty to the charges. He declined an interview with News 3.
Watch: Norfolk community holds vigil for Norview Middle School student shot, killed
"[Sutton] should have never been around kids no matter what," Traynham said. "That's just the bottom line. That's a grown man taking away a 14-year-old child."
Now, Traynham ponders about what her son would be doing now.
"I didn't get chance to see him graduate, go to college, none of that," she said.
Traynham is left with emotional pain as she navigates the legal process. But maybe that hardest part is that she has to try to explain to her young daughter that Amir isn't coming home.
Watch: 'Things are tense:' Norfolk councilwoman says after weekend violence left NSU student, 14-year-old dead
"She's only six. To tell her he's never coming back. She don't understand that," she said.
But it's Traynham's faith and family that push her to get through each day.
"My son, he would definitely not want me to just give up," she said. "I know that for a fact, because he was one of them type of people. He wasn't emotional. He just it was a strong kid. He just kept moving through things."
Traynham feel justice will be served in this case, though she does have a message to everyone about firearm safety.
"Keep the guns away," she said. "The kids should never know nothing about where anything is located, or anything like that, because accidents happen."
As for Sutton, he's scheduled to be sentenced in Norfolk Circuit Court on Oct. 25.
