Family believes 13- and 12-year-old boys killed within 24 hours in Louisville were friends and victims | Crime reports

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — A 13-year-old boy and his 12-year-old friend were shot and killed within 24 hours of each other in Louisville. Their relatives say they are convinced someone was after their young lives.

“I want to know what’s wrong with this picture,” said Dawn Brown, covering her face with a ski mask at the beginning of an interview with WDRB to prove her point. “So I can look like all the other little boys out here.”

“If someone wears a ski mask when it’s 30 degrees, something is wrong.”

These are the kind of masks that Brown says she took from her 13-year-old son, DaViawn Blackmon.

“I took every single one of them. I searched and seized their room daily like I was Louisville Metro (Police) or Secret Service,” Brown said. “Because I knew something was wrong.”

Brown said she knew she would have to fight for her son on the streets. Blackmon, the youngest of seven children, liked cars and loved to laugh.

“I felt like my son was being manipulated,” she said. “And I felt like my son was being taken advantage of.”

But relatives said he was drawn into gang life.

“We screamed for help, screamed for help, screamed for help, screamed for help, and no one listened,” said Blackmon’s sister, Rolanda Hamilton.

By age 13, Blackmon was already facing the juvenile justice system. His family said he was recently released from a nine-month prison sentence. They also said they had tried interventions, mentoring programs and even psychiatric hospitalizations and evaluations.

“Nothing helped,” Brown said. “My son was diagnosed with ADHD and ODD (oppositional defiant disorder), and I advocated for him. I tried to help him.”

It all culminated last week when Blackmon was shot in the head on June 27 and left for dead near 38th Street and Broadway.

“It’s almost like I knew this was going to happen,” Hamilton said, tears streaming from her eyes. “I just didn’t know it was going to happen at 13.”

His mother said he demanded $400 days before the shooting. When she refused, he slashed the furniture in her house with a machete.

She called the police, but this was far from the first time.

“Please lock him up,” I said. “He needs protection. My son needs protection, there is something else going on,” she said.

He was not arrested.

“He’s breaking down because I think he knew someone was trying to kill him and he couldn’t say anything,” Hamilton said. “There were multiple murders… multiple murders.”

The next day, 12-year-old Justin Johnson was killed in the Phoenix Hill neighborhood, according to police.

“That was my son’s friend,” Brown said. “Yes, my son knew him.”

Like Blackmon, Johnson was involved in intervention programs for young people.

“I still have a certain feeling about the situation, just because he literally spoke to us the day of the crime,” said Desiree Carr, mentor at Louisville CURE Violence. “We heard from him the day of the crime and to hear what happened to him that same day, that’s going to affect you.”

Relatives believe it was an assassination attempt and that someone was targeting the boys.

“When are we going to talk about children taking lives,” Hamilton said. “When are we going to talk about this not being normal? This is not being normal.”

Juvenile crime in Louisville is described as an epidemic – the city is at war with gangs that look and behave differently than before.

“These kids form gangs no matter what neighborhood they live in,” Hamilton said.

Seven teenagers have been killed in Louisville this year. Three of them have been charged with murder and dozens more have been shot and survived, according to Louisville Metro Police.

“The gang situation is a legitimate concern for us. We are not ignoring it or trying to hide it. It is well known,” said acting LMPD Chief Paul Humphrey.

What we don’t yet know is a concrete solution.

“Nobody deserves to die like that. Nobody, nobody,” Brown said.

According to police, no arrests were made in any of the cases.

Anyone with information on these or other cases is asked to call the department’s anonymous Crime Tip Line at 502-574-LMPD (5673). Tips can also be submitted anonymously online through the LMPD Crime Tip Portal by Click here.

Blackmon’s family has set up a GoFundMe page to help with funeral costs. You can find it at Click here.

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