They tried to get Theresa Provens to sit down, but she refused.
She took the news of her son's death standing up.
Her son, 16, who loved to hug. Her son, 16, who just made the honor roll. Her son, 16, who ran from the person who pulled the trigger that sent the bullet spiraling into his chest, where it severed a blood vessel and killed him.
Kentrell Provens died on Sunday, and now Theresa Provens is left only with her faith -- a deep belief that her son's death is part of God's plan.
"I'm going to miss him," she said. "But I'm going to keep my faith and my strength. Sixteen years is all [God] gave me."
Kentrell Provens poses with Dezayviun Watkins in this photo from December 2013.Police asked for the public's help in investigating Kentrell's death on Monday. He was shot at 825 N. Germantown Road around 5 p.m. the previous day. Provens said her son was walking with another person when a shooter opened fire out of a truck. She said she thinks the shooter meant to target the person Kentrell was with, not Kentrell.
"It wasn't meant for him," she said.
Police don't believe Kentrell was a gang member, but did say that he may have associated with people in gangs. Police Chief Fred Fletcher asks anybody who saw anything to call police.
"Even if they think it isn't important," Fletcher said. "Because when we start putting things together, it can become important."
He added that many community members already have given police substantial information.
Kentrell, who also was called "NuNu," had just finished an 18-month stint in juvenile lockup for a robbery charge, his mother said. He was released in December, and since then had been passionate about school, she said.
"He did his time and got out and got himself together," she said.
She just earned her GED in August and was pushing Kentrell to graduate as well.
Twenty-one years ago, Provens' brother, Zachary Williams, was killed, shot once in the chest. He was 22.
Williams is buried in a double plot in a cemetery in St. Elmo. The other grave was supposed to go to his brother when he dies.
But now, it belongs to Kentrell.
Contact staff writer Shelly Bradbury at 423-757-6525 or sbradbury@timesfreepress.com with tips or story ideas.
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