Karon Blake’s mom spoke publicly for the first time, Wednesday since her 13-year-old son was shot dead last month in Northeast D.C.
Jason Lewis, the man charged this week with second-degree murder in the boy’s death, had told police that Karon Blake and others were breaking into cars in his Brookland neighborhood around 4 a.m. on Jan. 7.
“You know, children are children. Some of them grow up too fast. Some of them do things that they’re not supposed to do, and some of us parents are not aware at all times … What I can say is that Karon came from a good home, and I tried my best with him. But Jason Lewis, he had no right, he had no right,” Londen Blake told reporters gathered in the conference room of the Cochran Law Firm in downtown D.C.
“Ms. Blake did not know that her son was out of her home at the time. She, in fact, believed that he was in the home and asleep,” attorney Brian McDaniel, who is representing the Blake family said. “Mr. Lewis is responsible for the shooting death of 13-year-old Karon Blake, who was unarmed at the time of his shooting.”
Blake indicated that she had heard criticism about the early time of day her son, a seventh-grader at Brookland Middle School, was out that Saturday when his short life ended in the 1000 block of Quincy Street Northeast.
“Everybody is like what is he doing out at 4 a.m.? Would you all feel better if it was at 4 p.m.? A crime is a crime, and that’s just that. He took my baby, my firstborn, and it’s messed up. But I got to live with that. But I really hope that I get justice for my child, and I hope that this man is convicted to the highest. Justice for Karon,” said Blake, supported at the podium by her sister Diamond Blake.
Blake is the mother of three other children, a 9-year-old girl, and 6-year-old twins. She talked about some of the frustrations of parenting in a single-family home, where she said 13-year-old Karon was the man of the house.
“Children make their own decisions. As adults, we do too. You can talk until you’re blue in the face to your child, but if their mind is set on what they want to do, then that’s what they want to do. All we have to do as parents is really be parents and try our best, that’s it … We have jobs, we have other children, we not going to be there every single time … every single moment, ” Blake said.
McDaniel said that the family is satisfied with the work of the grand jury, and he praised the office of Mayor Muriel Bowser and D.C. police Chief Robert Contee for the way the process has been handled so far.
McDaniel said the family is hopeful and expects an earnest investigation and an aggressive prosecution by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.
