Skip to main content
Wednesday, November 11, 2026Nov 11
Subscribe
All Sections
Search
More

Mothers hope stories of their pain prevent future violence in Chattanooga

Patricia McCrary is seen in her apartment on Monday, Mar. 28, 2016, in Chattanooga, Tenn., holding a photograph of her 19-year-old son Tyrone Stewart, Jr., who was shot and killed at a party on Dodds Avenue in 2008. The shooting occurred in front of a number of people, but no one has stepped forward as a witness and so no one has been prosecuted in the case.
Patricia McCrary is seen in her apartment on Monday, Mar. 28, 2016, in Chattanooga, Tenn., holding a photograph of her 19-year-old son Tyrone Stewart, Jr., who was shot and killed at a party on Dodds Avenue in 2008. The shooting occurred in front of a number of people, but no one has stepped forward as a witness and so no one has been prosecuted in the case. Patricia McCrary is seen in her apartment on Monday, Mar. 28, 2016, in Chattanooga, Tenn., holding a photograph of her 19-year-old son Tyrone Stewart, Jr., who was shot and killed at a party on Dodds Avenue in 2008. The shooting occurred in front of a number of people, but no one has stepped forward as a witness and so no one has been prosecuted in the case.

By Yolanda Putman 7 min read

More info

For more information on Healing on Both Sides call James Moreland at 423-364-1697

Just before the tears began to stream down Sebrina Robinson’s face, she told parents to take control of their children.

Go through things in their rooms. Look at their cellphones. Do pop-up visits at their schools. If they’re in a gang, get them out, she said. They can’t have the same friends they had in a gang. Take their phones. Drop them off at their appointments and be there to pick them up. Go to the police or put them in the Army if you have to, just get them out.

The 42-year-old mother of five lost her next-to-youngest daughter, 20-year-old Talitha Bowman, on Jan. 1, 2015. Robinson said her daughter just happened to answer the door when Cortez Sims came to an apartment looking for someone else.

The 17-year-old gang member allegedly shot Bowman twice in the back, one bullet exploding her heart. Sims faces a trial for murder on Sept. 27.