RICHMOND, Va. -- Family, friends and members of the community gathered at Lucks Field Wednesday to remember a father of seven killed in a shooting in Richmond last week.
Tyree Carroll was killed on July 27in the 1900 block of R Street in the same lower Mosby neighborhood he grew up in.
Family and friends left wondering why and his grieving mother is trying to find something to ease the pain that has not diminished since she learned of her son's murder.
"To get that phone call, you know. That's something I never was looking for. I was never prepared for it," Sophia Carroll said. "I'm past hurt. There's not a word from what I'm feeling."
Carroll, a convicted felon, was back in lower Mosby after a stint in lockup. His mother said he returned because he knew people and was trying to be a better dad for his kids.
Crime Insider sources said Major Crimes detectives have seen a few cases this year where someone released from prison comes back to their original community and is murdered.
"I answer my call I was in prison," Minister Antoine Prince said. "What was on my mind is to come out and make change. How can I come out and and be an addition to my neighborhood and not a subtraction?
Prince said mindset was key in stopping the cycle and returning to old habits. In fact, he said he left his former community for a change of scenery.
But Prince also called on men in some of Richmond's most impoverished neighborhoods to step up and be mentors for the younger generation.
Prince fears some kids are following a wrong and deadly path.
"It's like there's no restraint. And I hate to use scripture, but the Bible said where there's no vision, the people perish -- or the people cast off restraint," Prince said. "They have no vision. They don't see anything different. They don't see what it could become. They don't see no future. They don't see a life where, 'Hey, it's like we're living day by day.'"
Carroll has a large extended family many friends. More than 100 people attended Wednesday's vigil in the East End to pay their respects.
His accused killer, a 17-year-old boy from Henrico County, was charged with murder and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony.
