Mother of accidental shooting victim wants teens to hear her message
Jun. 22—Tears well in LaTasha Turner's eyes as she talks about her beloved dead son.
Seventeen-year-old Josh "J.T. Smooth" Turner, who had just graduated from Decatur High, died following an accidental shooting one year ago on June 23 at Wilson Morgan Park.
"He was a good boy," she said. "But he made a bad decision."
Josh was a fine student and high school football standout who earned nearly a full-ride scholarship to Bethel University to play football, she said.
"It was an academic and athletic scholarship," LaTasha emphasizes. She wants people to know he was a smart, well-rounded and thoughtful young man.
Josh was ordinarily circumspect; he thought before he acted, she said. But that one indelible day of madness took his young life away before he could truly blossom. He didn't get to be a college football star, marry, have children or grandchildren, or enjoy a long life. His mother and father feel this loss in their bones.
For reasons LaTasha cannot understand to this day, Josh decided to buy a stolen handgun from another person. She does not know who sold her son the gun, but she wonders how they could do such a thing — sell a gun to a minor.
"If you knew him, you knew he was sometimes silly and he was goofy. Anybody who knew him knew that's not for him," LaTasha said of her son.
His dad, Richard, tries to make sense of why someone sold a gun to his son.
"You're not thinking; you stole a gun. You don't care who you sell it to. You're just trying to get rid of it," he surmised.
LaTasha says the money for a handgun wasn't worth her child's life.
"They got what — one hundred, two hundred dollars? Whoever got that, it's gone. They probably don't even know what they spent it on, and my child — my whole child — is gone, for a couple of dollars," LaTasha said, adding the seller of the gun could have gotten a job like Josh.
"He was a hard worker," Richard said of his son.
"He was trying to save up his money and he didn't want to bother us asking for money," LaTasha added. "He was a person who wanted to pave his own way."
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The shooting
Mylon Miller, a former offensive linebacker and teammate of Josh's spoke to The Daily shortly after the shooting. He said he was outside a vehicle at the park when he heard shots fired inside the vehicle.
"Me and my friends were just hanging out and I believe (Josh) had just bought a gun," Miller said. "He just had it out showing people."
The gun discharged and a bullet struck a girl in the vehicle, causing a non-life-threatening injury. Miller was getting ready to call the police when he turned back toward the vehicle. He watched as the events transpired. Josh accidentally shot himself in the head.
He died the next day. — Decisions
LaTasha has thought a lot about Josh and about that day. Some days it's all she thinks about. In the space of a year, she has gone from a size 12 to a 2. Grief has ruined her appetite for food and sometimes her faith. It can be a crushing weight. But, as the anniversary of his death approaches, she has opened up a little.
She feels driven to give this message to young people:
"When you make a decision, pretend your parents are right there beside you," she said.
On that fateful day, Josh didn't do that. But it was not the norm.
"Josh didn't really go out to hang out with friends," she said. "That might have been the third time in high school. He was basically on the game all the time. He was in the house with us or he was at the gym." He would sometimes go to the gym two or three times a day; in the morning, after school and after working one of his two jobs, his parents said. He worked a full-time job with his dad at Corporate Warehouse Service and then part time on the weekends at Big Lots.
"In every other area he was making good decisions," LaTasha said.
His life was short, but he made his mark. His senior year, he was instrumental in the Decatur High School Red Raiders' 9-3 season — their best record since 2016. As a running back and safety, Josh was a Decatur Daily 5A-7A All-Area selection, with 78 tackles, and one interception during his senior year. On offense he rushed for five touchdowns on 36 carries. — Arms around the family
Both Richard and LaTasha said their workplaces were kind to them after Josh's death. They could come back when they were ready and they could take a day off if needed, they said
"My job was great," LaTasha said. "My supervisor, Cara, set up a food train and on different days people brought food."
This helped the family greatly because they had many visitors throughout the ordeal.
LaTasha's workplace also let her come back when she was ready and to come back, part time at first.
Richard's workplace was there for him.
"My supervisor, Allen McCall, told me I can come back when I wanted to, and any day I missed, he paid for," said Richard, who works at Corporate Warehouse Service. "He also paid for some food at the funeral."
One of the parents from Bethel College — the college Josh was supposed to attend — even reached out and sent the couple a No. 1 team jersey because Josh wore a No. 1 jersey for Decatur High, LaTasha said.
In fact, the entire community — Josh's friends, their neighbors, Decatur High School, Decatur Baptist Church, LaTasha's entire work family, Corporate Warehouse and Big Lots — all stepped in to lift up the family in the aftermath, they said.
"The whole Decatur family — it was a blessing," Richard said.
Their surviving children were there for them including Devin Turner, who is grown; Richard Adair, a sophomore at Decatur High; and Raniyah Adair, who just graduated from high school.
"My kids have been a blessing," LaTasha said. Her children didn't get quiet after Josh's death. Instead they talked about him and tried to support their parents.
"When I'm crying, they stop crying to make sure I'm OK," she said.
Josh's girlfriend still sends text messages to LaTasha to see how she is faring. Josh's football brothers are attentive, and they try to make sure they keep in contact with the family, she said. Some of them have even gotten tattoos bearing Josh's name to remember him. All of this helped during the worst possible time in their lives, the parents said.
One of the football players, former inside linebacker Paxtin Dupper, started a GoFundMe page online that raised more than $13,000 on a $7,000 goal for Josh's burial in Chicago. Josh was born there and moved to the South when he was in sixth grade. LaTasha had wanted a better life for her children and found it here, she said.
Dupper said he looked up to Josh. In the days after the shooting, he told The Daily, "Getting a compliment or something from JT — because he was such a good athlete and a good player and he didn't talk much — was always a big deal to me."
Memories of Josh are steadfast and plentiful among his friends and family. The only thing missing is Josh. It is his memory that prompts LaTasha to speak out and to tell youths to think about their decisions — think about their decisions like their parents are standing there beside them.
— jean.cole@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2361
