DETROIT – The Mother's Day gift that one local mother wants on Sunday can't be wrapped with a bow or wrapping paper, all she wants is justice. She's asking the public for help in finding her son's killer.
The last time Thelma Johnson spoke to her son was an hour before he was shot. The next phone call she got changed her family's life forever.
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Sunday will mark Johnson's fifth Mother's Day without her son and without closure.
"I cannot sleep at night, I just wake up through the night thinking about my son and I hate that this happened," Johnson said. "I want him back but I can't have him back."
Her son, 19-year-old Brian Johnson, was killed in 2009 on Ashland near East Forest Street on the east side. Officials say two men approached the car he was sitting in, demanding the vehicle and a diamond watch. As the driver tried speeding away, Johnson, who was in the passenger seat, was shot and killed.
"If I could trade places with him right now I would," Brian's father West Johnson said. "He did not get a chance to live his life."
Brian was the youngest of three boys and liked to collect shoes and hats. He was a football player for Alabama State.
Now all his family can hope for is justice.
"Just come forth, because without us stepping up and speaking up, we will continue to experience the senseless murders and killings in the city of Detroit," said family friend Annie Ray.
Thelma just hopes that her son's killers will be caught.
"I'm here rejoicing for one son that's born on Mother's Day, and then when I look around and see that I don't have my other son, Brian, it's just a terrible feeling," Thelma said.
Brian's parents are hoping that somebody can help to fulfill their only Mother's Day wish. Posters are being put up around the neighborhood, and Crime Stoppers is offering $3,500 for information that leads to an arrest that comes in by Friday night. Any of those tips are anonymous.