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Fight for justice in 12-year-old’s shooting death ends

Posted at 10:38 AM, Mar 30, 2015
and last updated 2015-03-31 05:58:32-04

Chesapeake, Va. - All legal options are exhausted for the mother of a Chesapeake girl who was shot to death by a classmate in 2012, but Caroline "Cee Cee" Walker's mother still wants to know why prosecutors and civil courts will not hold additional people responsible for her daughter's death.

"Why not?" said Lisa Walker.  "Everything is concrete right there on what has happened here."

The mother's pleas for additional charges and the basis of her now dismissed civil suit was centered on the chain of events she said let the gun fall into the 13-year-old shoother's hands.  She said the parents who owned the gun should face negligence charges, and the school administrator she said knew about the gun should be held accountable, too.  However, Chesapeake prosecutors said there is no legal basis to charge those parties.  Walker's $15 million civil lawsuit against them have been dismissed.

"I miss her," said Walker.  "And for nothing to be done about it? I mean come on."

The teenage shooter could be released from juvenile detention at any time on involuntary manslaughter charges, but Walker said he should not be the only one carrying the burden of Cee Cee's death.

Court documents said days before Cee Cee's death, a Deep Creek Middle School Student student in their neighborhood got his hands on his parents' .38 caliber revolver.

A woman, identified in court documents, said the boy with the gun, threatened to kill her son.

"He came to the door and straight up told him stop banging on my door before I shoot you," the woman told NewsChannel 3.  "

"I told his mother and she was like please let me talk to him," the woman explained.  "I said no, because if your son would have shot my son, neither you, nor your husband or anybody could tell me [anything]."

"Something should have been done about it," she said.

According to Walker's lawsuit, the day of Cee Cee's death, the boy flashed the gun again before school.  Court records said a Deep Creek student reported it to a school employee, but that employee "did not search" the students " and "did not report the brandishing incident to the police."

After school that day, the boy who got his hands on his parents' gun gave it to another boy, who then shot and killed Cee Cee.

The shooter said in court he and Cee Cee were pointing the gun at each other.  The defense led to involuntary manslaughter charges and not murder.

Cee Cee's mother said that was a lie.

"She was not playing no game," said Walker.  "She feared guns.  All day long she feared guns."

The teen is the only person to face any consequences for Cee Cee's death.

"That young boy should not have to serve that by himself," Walker said.

Chesapeake school officials have denied their employee spoke with any students about a gun the day Cee Cee died.

NewsChannel 3 wanted to know why the parents who owned the gun did not face any charges.  In an e-mail, Chesapeake Commonwealth's Attorney Nancy Parr said  "There was no evidence that the owner of the firearm committed a crime."
She added "There is no statute that requires people to secure their firearms in any particular manner.  The owner of the gun was legally able to own a firearm."

Court documents also reveal that the parents in question denied ever owning the gun used to kill Cee Cee, and because there's no law in Virginia that requires serial numbers on guns to be tracked after they're purchased, there is no way to prove them otherwise.

Carl La Mondue represented Walker in the civil lawsuit against the alleged gun owners and school employee.

"A gun is such a dangerous instrument that we can`t afford to have a lapse in time in discovering and investigating what should be done," La Mondue said.

A Chesapeake judge tossed the lawsuit out before it ever made it to a jury.  La Mondue's appeal to the Virginia Supreme Court was dismissed, too.

Legally, this is the end of the road of Cee Cee's mother, but she is praying her daughter's death was not in vain.

"She was the wake up for them to realize to lock up their guns indirectly," said Walker.  "She was the wake up call. "

NewsChannel 3 did reach out to the parents listed as the gun owners in the lawsuit, but they did not want to make any comments.

Cee Cee's mother is hoping for some type of legislation on gun tracking or storage laws to come out of her daughter's death.

Click here to visit the gofund me page set up by the family.

Related:

Sentencing delayed for Chesapeake teen in young girl’s death