ATLANTA — For the first time, at a court hearing in Atlanta, a mother confronted the killer of her teenaged son.
The killer, also a teen, had just confessed to the crime.
The defendant, Demetrius Hill, admitted in court that he took part in the gang violence that killed 12-year-old Zyion Charles and 15-year-old Cameron Jackson in northwest Atlanta, on the 17th Street bridge near Atlantic Station, on Nov. 26, 2022.
According to prosecutors, it was Hill who fired the shots that killed Jackson.
And on Thursday, at the plea hearing in Fulton County Superior Court in Downtown Atlanta, Jackson's mother Tiffany Smith -- who is now working to curb gang violence -- had her one chance to speak to Hill.
“I get that I could have easily been on the other side of this,” Smith said just after Hill pleaded guilty. “And just looking at you, you’re a kid. And it’s hard. It’s heart-breaking. And it’s a loss for all of us.”
And then Smith told Hill what she hopes he will never forget, as he spends the next 30 years in prison.
Because since Smith lost her son a year ago, she has realized how much she can do to help other children and families free themselves from gangs and gun violence.
"I'm fighting to support other moms, fighting to educate moms that still have their children. They don't know what's going on in the city," Smith told 11Alive in October.
Smith founded "Your Future Stakeholders Atlanta" to work with young people and their parents, and to develop community solutions to gangs and gun violence.
So in court on Thursday, when Smith was finally able to speak to Cameron's young killer, she knew exactly what she would tell him from her shattered heart.
"I just pray that you forgive yourself. I forgive you. And I just pray that you do what's right. And move forward with your life. Because you do have a life that Cameron doesn't get. And I just pray that you thank God that you do have that. And I forgive you. Okay?"
So far, four of the six defendants in this case have pleaded guilty, and each will serve years in prison.
Smith, wearing a shirt that reads “Cameron Forever,” is just beginning what will now be her life's work, to help save lives.
"Exactly right!” she said in October, “that’s the goal!” Then she smiled. A sign that she will find a way forward, despite her unthinkable heartbreak.
She said again, “That's the goal."