‘I’m not going away’: Woman still hopeful as son’s killing remains unsolved 1 year later

CHARLOTTE — A mother is left searching for her son’s killer one year after he was shot to death while driving near Northlake Mall.

Armani Spencer left behind three children and his mother, who told Channel 9′s Hunter Sáenz she hasn’t given up hope.

“I’m not going away,” Donna Spencer said. “We’re not going away.”

She’s still as shattered as she was a year ago when her son, Armani, was killed.

“If it wasn’t for my family, we wouldn’t make it,” she said.

She tearfully spoke to Sáenz in her living room -- the same spot where we felt her heart breaking just days after her son’s death.

Police said Armani was shot and killed last August while driving along West W.T. Harris Boulevard, near Northlake Mall. The 23-year-old’s life was taken, and the lives of his three children were forever changed.

“My grandson has said ‘when my dad comes back alive,’ and to know that, you have to really take a moment to push back and come up with an answer,” Spencer said. “That’s the painful part.”

Armani’s family has tried their best to grieve and press forward.

“He was so kind, so gentle, so respectful,” Spencer said.

Pictures are scattered around his mother’s home.

“He’s still alive to me. His spirit still lives with me every day,” she said.

Police haven’t made an arrest. Spender said she’s done all she can to help detectives lead them to potential suspects, but so far, nothing.

“I have a lot of questions,” she said.

It’s why she’s asking, again, for any information that could help find his killer.

“I just continue to keep going,” Spencer said. “And I’m going to keep going ‘cause I have three children looking up at me that would want to know that they had justice for their father.”

Sáenz reached out to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department about this case but so far, he hasn’t heard back.

This weekend, Armani’s family plans to hold a balloon release in his memory. His mother said it’s not a celebration, and it won’t be until an arrest is made.

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