SUFFOLK, Va. (WAVY) – It’s been two months since a 19-year-old Norfolk State student was shot and killed in Suffolk. Police say someone shot into Sidney Watson’s car as he was driving on College Drive in July 12. No arrests have been made.
“Why?” Watson’s mom Gwen Brown asked. “That’s my question. Why? He was well loved. Who would hate him that much to kill him?”
It’s a question that Brown can’t stop asking.
“Why would you want to take someone’s life?” Brown asked.
Her son Sidney was driving home July 12 when she came up on a police scene on College Drive. She noticed her son’s car was there. Hours later she was told he was dead.
“It is something that no parent should go through ever,” Brown said.
Watson was a student at Norfolk State working two jobs. He was studying to be a dentist.
“Sidney was a loving young man,” she added. “You couldn’t help but love him.”
Watson was driving with a friend in the car. Someone came up beside him and fired. He died instantly. His friend was injured.
“When I found out he was shot and killed that really put an empty spot in my heart,” Brown said. “They not only took my soon, but took me.”
Brown keeps her son close. Pictures remain out around the home. They are images of better times. There are also messages from loved ones on display.
“These are all the cards from the services we had,” Brown added.
What hurts even more is that the killer has not yet been caught.
“Someone knows something and they are just withholding the information,” Brown said.
That’s why Brown has taken things into her own hands. Everyday she tries to solve the case.
“We go out and we put up these posters,” she added. “It’s a reward for $7,000. We are trying to raise $10,000.”
Brown and her family have put up $5,000 for a reward and hope the community will double that with a GoFundMe page.
Brown even asked the Crime Line to put Sidney’s murder on billboards around the area. She is just hoping to get that one lead that will bring closure.
“I want justice for my son; he did not deserve to go out like that,” she said. “No one does.”