Family of Downtown Columbus shooting victim wants violence to end
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- A family is remembering the life of their 18-year-old son after he was shot and killed in Downtown Columbus a little more than a week ago.
Jusiah Mason’s mother and stepfather said they have always been proud of their son, but since his death, so many others have come to them with stories of Mason helping others and making them smile.
The family encourages the community to end the violence.
“This is my baby boy that I had to, like, carried, and now he's not here,” Mason’s mother Shanai Neal said.
It has only been a few weeks since the family celebrated Mason’s high school graduation and 18th birthday.
“We're so proud of him,” Shanai Neal said. “He worked so very hard to graduate and he was really excited.”
She said that on June 14 at approximately 4 a.m., one of Mason’s friends woke her and her husband up to tell them he was shot.
“I just was like, going, felt so crazy, I didn't know, like, well, what do you mean? What do you mean? When he got shot in the head," Shanai Neal said.
Mason died in the hospital the next day. He was one of six people shot during the incident on South Ludlow Street and West Town Street. Police said all the victims were 17 or 18 years old.
The Neals said they had the opportunity to talk to some of the other victims' families.
“We did say, like, this was the worst outcome in our situation, was to lose our son, but we don't know what those other kids have been building towards their whole life,” Ray Neal, Mason’s stepfather, said. “An athlete getting ready to go to college on a scholarship that has now got shot in the leg. Now he can't play sports anymore, like shifting his whole life.”
Police arrested and charged 19-year-old Mohamed Fofana from Georgia with Mason’s murder over the weekend. He faced a judge Monday, who issued a $3 million bond in the case.
In court, attorneys said Fofana allegedly was shooting from a car driving by, then got on a plane back to Atlanta the next day. They say he also allegedly bought a plane ticket to Ethiopia.
“One point in the day, we'll be okay, and then another day, you know, the sadness is really here,” Ray Neal said.
The family said Mason was a ball of energy and always making people laugh. They said he had a job interview scheduled for the Monday after he was killed and talked about becoming an electrician
“One of his teachers had shared with me that it just really, really warmed my heart, was that he stood up for the kids that had, you know, disabilities and things,” Shanai Neal said. “He's like, you're not going to mess with them. And he would tell me, you know, mom, I talk to everybody at school.”
His mother and stepfather said that in the hospital, they found out Mason chose to be an organ donor. They say the doctors told them his organs could save as many as eight lives and that helps them to know he could live through someone else.
Columbus police said the investigation into the shooting is continuing.