‘Baby, I forgive you': Mother of shooting victim says she forgives 13-year-old murder suspect

WINTER GARDEN, Fla. — A 13-year-old murder suspect is expected to face a judge Friday, a day after police say he shot and killed a Winter Garden man while his sister watched.

Officers said Vamari Bostic, 13, was considered armed and dangerous before he turned himself in to police after they issued a first-degree murder warrant for his arrest. The teen is accused of fatally shooting James Bacon, 25, around 2 a.m. Thursday near the intersection of West Crown Point Road and Edgeway Drive.

Winter Garden police Capt. Scott Allen said officers were already patrolling the area when they heard what they first thought was fireworks, and a woman came running around the corner yelling, “Someone shot my brother!”

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As the teenage murder suspect was being transferred to jail, family members of his alleged victim were offering him forgiveness.

Winter Garden police were in the neighborhood Thursday morning, looking for Bostic.

Bacon was out for a walk Wednesday night with his sister when police say Bostic shot and killed him while she watched.

In the tight-knit neighborhood, everyone knew by the time the sun came up what had happened.

"I seen my brother this morning, laying out on that bed,” said Kendrick Bacon. “That really took some part of my heart, knowing I won't be able to see my brother ever again."

Bacon's family was planning to get together for the Fourth of July. His mom was on her way from Atlanta when she got the news about her son and the teenage murder suspect.

"The only thing I can say to you sir, to you baby, I forgive you,” Bacon’s mother, Tysha Brunson, said.

"All I want is peace," she said.

Late Thursday afternoon, she said she cannot live with hate in her heart. So she had to come up with another option and she decided to forgive and focus on remembering her son.

"He was a good kid,” Brunson said. “He made a couple of mistakes in his life. We all do. He was a great father. He was a great son to me."

Bostic's family members said they have no idea how he got the gun

"Please withhold judgement until the truth about yesterday comes out," Bostic's mother, Delores Bostic, said at court Friday.

Delores Bostic said she isn't sure how her son's alleged feud with Bacon began, but said police went too far issuaing a warrant for first-degree murder in her son's arrest.

"I'm not making my son to be a saint, he had his issues too," Delores Bostic said. "But it wasn't a senseless killing. My son is not just a stone-cold murderer. That's not him."

Bostic will continue to be held at the juvenile jail without bond.

Police said the shooting stemmed from an ongoing, weeks-long dispute between Bacon and Bostic.

Anyone with information on the shooting is asked to call the Winter Garden Police Department at 407-656-3636.

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