In July 2017, Belinda Oliver’s 18-year-old son was shot and killed while selling water bottles outside a southwest Atlanta gas station.
Markeith Oliver had gotten into an argument with people he knew, his mother said. Shots were fired, killing Markeith.
On Saturday, the same mother got a second harrowing phone call. Her 15-year-old son had been shot and taken to Grady Memorial Hospital. By the time Oliver arrived, her youngest son, Kelvice Roberson Jr., had taken his last breath.
“It’s really been devastating,” Belinda Oliver told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “It’s hard to lose two kids this way. They were sweet boys.”
In 2021, more than 25 kids and teenagers were killed by gun violence in metro Atlanta and several others were injured. That violence is already continuing three weeks into the new year. Oliver said hate-filled people are turning to guns to resolve conflicts.
On Saturday, Atlanta police investigated three deadly shootings, including the one that killed Kelvice.
Kelvice was at the Dunbar Neighborhood Center on Windsor Street when he and a man were shot about 3:30 p.m., according to police. The man, whose name was not released, survived his injuries.
“Preliminary investigation indicates that the incident was the result of a gun transaction gone wrong involving acquaintances,” Atlanta police said in a news release.
Oliver doesn’t believe her son, a South Atlanta High School freshman, was involved in the gun sale. She can’t understand who would shoot Kelvice in the back of the head and other times in the chest.
Credit: J.D. Capelouto
Credit: J.D. Capelouto
The shooting remains under investigation, and no arrests have been made. In her older son’s case, Garrison Carreker, who was also 18 at the time, was arrested and charged with murder. Carreker was later convicted and is serving a 30-year prison sentence, according to the Georgia Department of Corrections.
Once again, Oliver says she needs help with the costs of a funeral. She has turned to GoFundMe and hopes to be able to make a payment this week to Willie A. Watkins Funeral Home, the same business that handled her older son’s arrangements.
“It's really been devastating. It's hard to lose two kids this way. They were sweet boys."
“I’m still paying off Markeith’s gravesite,” she said. “I’m a single parent working a part-time job.”
Anyone with information on the shooting that killed Kelvice is asked to contact Atlanta police or submit a tip anonymously to the Crime Stoppers Atlanta tip line at 404-577-8477, online at www.crimestoppersatlanta.org or by texting CSA and the tip to CRIMES (274637).
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