Mother of 21-year-old man killed in downtown Minneapolis bar shooting seeks answers
Police in Minneapolis are still searching for at least one suspect in the shooting that killed a man and injured three other people inside a bar on Tuesday night.
Ericka Wheeler, the mother of the man killed, is also searching for answers. She shared her grief and a call to action with WCCO.
"He always had that smile," Ericka Wheeler said of her son, 21-year-old DaMarco Fletcher, Jr., who died in the shooting.
She said Fletcher had a personality.
"Vibrant smile, lights up a room. He's been having a big smile all of his life," she said.
According to Wheeler, Fletcher fought from day one to prove he deserved all that life had to give.
"He beat odds. He was a preemie. He came in the world fighting. He was my everything," she said.
Fletcher was a 2022 graduate of Armstrong High School. He excelled academically and athletically.
"When I say he was a natural talent, that's wrestling, basketball and football," Wheeler said.
Fletcher was focused on helping others.
"He was a PCA worker. He worked for the state doing PCA, and he did respite care," Wheeler said.
She added that her son was also studying to get his real estate license.
"I'm just broken," Wheeler said.
Fletcher was shot multiple times inside the bar. He died at the scene.
"I need the establishment to be held accountable, as well as the person who took my son's life," Wheeler said. "They should have had more security, better security, and they should have did a better job."
She wants to know how a gun got inside the club and the person who pulled the trigger, to do the right thing.
"I want the person who did this to turn themselves in," Wheeler said.
Gloria Brown, Fletcher's aunt, said he tried "so hard" not to be a statistic.
"If you said he couldn't do it, he was going to push himself until he did it," Brown said.
She added that Fletcher was one of a kind and set the standard for all his friends.
"He didn't live with limitations because he always believed that he could do well. He believed he could set goals and he could achieve them, and he did just," Brown said.
Wheeler said detectives told her that her son was not the aggressor or instigator. She hopes those who know the shooter will encourage him to turn himself in so they can begin to heal.