ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. (WESH) – The life of a 13-year-old was cut short on Christmas Day.
“She had goals,” Tramaine Henderson said. “She would never go to prom. She would never get to go to college.”
Emony Jackson was shot at this home on Okada Court in Orange County.
She died later at the hospital.
Deputies said a 15-year-old boy went to investigators on scene, saying he was responsible for the shooting and that it was an accident.
He was arrested and charged with manslaughter.
“He’s a child, but at the end of the day, his family will get to see him,” Henderson, Jackson’s cousin, said. “My family won’t get to see Emony anymore.”
Jackson’s death was a tragic ending to a short life that’s seen its share of pain. Emony lost her mother and little sister in a car crash in 2017
“She went through a lot in her life with her mother passing away, a few years back, and her baby sister, but the lemons she was given, she made lemonade of it,” Henderson said.
Chrissy Boyce, a mentor for underprivileged kids with Elevate Orlando, was Jackson’s mentor.
She said hearing the news was devastating.
“When I found out, I screamed, cried. It wasn’t very pretty,” Boyce said.
Those who knew her said Jackson was a girl with goals. One of those was trying out and making her high school’s cheerleading team.
It was my goal to try to talk to the coach at the high school she’s intended for and figure out when it is,” Boyce said. “And I did, I talked to the coach. But unfortunately, I won’t be able to get that information to Emony.”
The family is not sure of what happened on the night of Christmas, but they do know one thing: they want to see justice.
“I think there needs to be some accountability. At 15, you should not have a gun,” Henderson said.
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