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Mom of 19-year-old shot by Clayton County Police wants justice in her son's killing

The GBI is investigating the deadly shooting of 19-year-old Eric Holmes by a Clayton County Police officer on Nov. 21 in Morrow.

MORROW, Ga. — Bakelvion Holmes said the Georgia Bureau of Investigations Medical Examiner told her that her son, 19-year-old Eric Holmes, was shot in the back.

On Monday, Nov. 21, the GBI said a uniformed Clayton County Police Officer was investigating a stolen vehicle parked at IGM Surfaces, LLC at 1135 Commerce Road in Morrow. Shortly after confirming that the vehicle was stolen, the officer was approached by a man, identified as Eric Holmes, of Stone Mountain.

Eric engaged the officer in conversation but gave no indication of his connection to the stolen vehicle. While speaking to the officer, the GBI said Eric abruptly walked away, entered the stolen vehicle, and started the engine. The officer gave commands for Eric to stop. The officer fired several shots, and the man left the scene in the stolen vehicle.

Eric ended up crashing a short distance from the shooting. Bakelvion said her son was at work at IGM Surfaces when a coworker told him the police were outside at his car.

Bakelvion said her son of his own free will walked out to talk with the officer. 

"GBI said it was a casual conversation," she explained. "Witnesses out there say there was no confrontation."

"I was told it was a casual conversation Eric got in the vehicle and the officer opened fire," she added.

Bakelvion said it didn't make sense why her son was in this vehicle. She said his vehicle was parked at home and he just recently paid the car insurance on it prior to being killed on Monday.

Following the shooting and crash, the GBI said two guns were found inside the vehicle. 

"I don’t know anything about him having guns. If they’re saying the car is stolen how do we know who guns it is," she said.

Bakelvion said the GBI told her a tracker is how Clayton County Police got the information on where the car was, which was outside of her son's work. She said while she's still confused about where the car came from, she doesn't believe what happened in the parking lot escalated to the point where her son needed to be shot and killed. 

"There are several things they could have done outside of shoot my child," Bakelvion said. "If he was wrong, I’d say he was wrong. If you can prove to me that my baby was wrong, if you can prove to me he deserved to be shot I can take that but to not tell me nothing."

Bakelvion said she was told there is body camera footage of the interaction between her son and the officer and she's demanding it is released.

"I just want answers. Why was my child shot?" Bakelvion asked.

She also said a tow truck, which was arriving before her son left the parking lot captured him crashing into the nearby ditch on Commerce Road.

1Alive reached out to the GBI on Wednesday afternoon for an update and was told there are no new updates in their ongoing investigation.

Eric Holmes leaves behind a three-year-old son. 

The shooting was the 105th shooting involving law enforcement the GBI had been asked to investigate in 2022. 

Eric Holmes's celebration of life is set for Thursday, Dec. 8 at 11 a.m. at East Lake United Methodist Church at 2500 Hosea L. Williams Dr. in Atlanta.

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