PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — On a summer night in 2009, two brothers from Portsmouth had their lives changed forever when they were both shot.
Darrious Riddick and his brother Eduel Elliott were standing outside a home on Lancer Drive, with Riddick’s two young kids playing in the yard. That’s when they were shot — Elliott in the leg, and Riddick in the back.
Riddick was paralyzed from the waist down.
“He was in that [wheel]chair for 14 years, and for 14 years, not once was he bitter,” said his mom, Patricia Riddick.
Two men were convicted in connection to the shooting, and the family tried to move on with their lives.
Then, last month, Darrious Riddick told his mom he was feeling weak.
As she was trying to help him, he died.
“He died in my arms,” she said. “I kissed his forehead.”
Patricia Riddick told 10 On Your Side that doctors think it might have been a blood clot that caused his death, but his body is currently undergoing an autopsy in Ohio, where he was living at the time.
“It was bitter and sweet,” she said. “He was sick. He was in a wheelchair, he was still having complications from his injuries.”
Now, Riddick said she needs help to give her son a proper burial. The Portsmouth Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office said Riddick may qualify for help from the Virginia Victim’s Compensation Fund, as long as the autopsy shows that his death was a direct result of the shooting. That determination may take some time.
The family started a GoFundMe. Her brother, who lives in Suffolk, is trying to help her raise the money.
“We’re not the kind of family who would ask for handouts, but ya know, certain times in life you just need a little more than what you can muster yourself,” said Wilbert Elliott Jr.
If you’d like to donate to the funeral cost, click here.