NEW IBERIA, La. (KLFY)– Four years after the tragic shooting of Garon Lewis, his parents are speaking out on finally getting the justice they deserve.
Garon Lewis’ mother and father, Roxy Lewis and Raymond Lewis, are taking one step at a time after their son was fatally shot in 2019. Roxy Lewis, Garon’s mother, said Garon had a bright future ahead of him.
“My son was just getting ready to flourish,” Roxy Lewis said. “He wanted to be a nurse like I was, and I was ready to give him everything I knew”, Roxy Lewis said.
Roxy Lewis said gun violence is the reason her family created the Garon Paul Atkinson Foundation after Garon Lewis’ passing, to keep his memory alive.
“Gun violence, it’s an individual type thing,” Roxy Lewis said. “We all grieve differently. It’s hard to put on what other people thinking. I don’t know what they’re thinking. I don’t know what went on. I just know about me, and that’s why we trying to fight so hard with GPAL Foundation to keep his legacy alive because he was wonderful. He was a loving You would’ve loved him.”
When speaking about his take on gun violence, Raymond Lewis said as a father who lost a child, he would have fought just as hard if not more to get justice.
“It mattered the difference if I had not been a school board member,” Raymond Lewis said. “It matters the difference if I had not been a city councilman at one time. That was my son. As a father, I would have fought just as hard as I’m fighting now for justice.”
Raymond Lewis explained a moment in the courtroom where the suspect was proven guilty and urged the city of New Iberia to listen.
“This is the part I want New Iberia to catch,” he said. “The defense came, and they have a gentleman by the name of Daniel Smart. He got up there with a lawbook. He looked the jury in the eye, and he looked, and then he pointed directly at the defendant, and he said ‘You take your city back New Iberia’. He slammed the book on the table and sat down. Jury take your city back in New Iberia, and that’s what they did.”
Raymond Lewis said the jury got the verdict right.
“Make no mistake, they got it right. They got it right,” Raymond Lewis said.
Both parents said they will continue to fight for Garon and are ready for anything that comes next.
