‘We had a bond’: Woman pushes for justice as search continues for son’s killer

CHARLOTTE — A mother isn’t giving up her fight for justice two years after her son was shot and killed near Northlake Mall.

Donna Spencer told Channel 9’s Hunter Sáenz someone has to know something that can lead to her son’s killer.

“Armani was just the apple to my eye,” she said.

“We had a bond, a mother and son bond that everybody knew. Everybody knew how close we were.”

Donna Spencer A mother isn’t giving up her fight for justice two years after her son was shot and killed near Northlake Mall. Donna Spencer told Channel 9’s Hunter Sáenz someone has to know something that can lead to her son Armani’s killer.

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Spencer doesn’t rest easy these days. She hasn’t since her son, Armani, was shot and killed while driving down West W.T. Harris Boulevard near Northlake Mall two years ago.

“They took something from me, a lot from me,” she said.

“It’s been a journey, it’s been a battle. You have your up days and your down days.”

But Spencer presses on for her son and the three young kids he left behind. The kids miss their dad terribly.

“Just the other day, his oldest son had a meltdown,” she said. “You know, ‘I miss my dad.’ So, it was hard. It was hard, very hard.”

She said there hasn’t been a single successful lead in the case; no updates, no arrests, no justice, no closure.

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“It’s two years, two long years,” she said. “Give me some type of answers. Give me something.”

It’s why she chooses to share her son’s story hoping someone will know something that could break the case wide open.

“It doesn’t matter how long it takes me, I’m not going anywhere,” Sanders said.

Two years later, she still keeps Armani close to her heart. She wears a necklace with a photo of the two of them as a symbol of how much she loved him.

“I keep it close because it helps. I know [he’s] in my heart,” she said, adding, “I speak of him in spirit. I can feel him in spirit; that helps me. And I will let his name live on until it’s my turn.”

With a mother’s love and restless fight for justice, Sanders is hopeful she and her son can one day rest peacefully.

Channel 9 reached out to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department about this case asking if there have been any significant leads or if they are making any progress. So far, we haven’t heard back.

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