He had eaten so much, it was hard to move. A late-night celebration to end his 13th birthday was exactly what Nizzear Rodriguez had wanted.
As his grandmother watched, Nizzear ate bite after bite of his Applebee’s feast, dressed in a new shirt and khakis. Back at his family’s Carrollton townhouse, he went into his upstairs bedroom, where he watched television. Somehow, no family members heard the gunshot that killed him. And more than three years later, there is not a convicted killer nor a motive.
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"Everybody has a different theory as to why this happened,” Jeff Hunt, Carroll County assistant district attorney told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “There's only one person that really knows and that's the person that shot the young man.”
But last week, a jury acquitted the man believed to have been the gunman. Malik Davis was acquitted of murder and aggravated assault charges, but convicted of burglary, Hunt said. Sentencing for Davis, who could spend up to 20 years behind bars, is scheduled for Oct. 12. Prosecutors plan to ask for the maximum punishment, a small comfort to Nizzear's family.
A second man, Kenneth Wheat, agreed to testify against Davis. Wheat acknowledged being in Nizzear’s home, but claimed Davis pulled the trigger, Hunt said. But witnesses weren’t forthcoming with details. And their stories changed. The jury found Davis not guilty of the two most serious charges.
Kanisha Cofer said she and her family wanted a murder conviction, a sense of justice for her nephew’s death. But strong in their faith, Cofer and her family members have manged to put their anger aside.
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"We were disappointed, but we had to redirect ourselves and remind ourselves that God is the judge,” Cofer said. “We're not going to depend on the system to be the judge.”
According to investigators, a teenager and a 21-year-old entered the wrong home on Aug. 24, 2014. Nizzear, just barely a teenager and not yet 5 feet tall, was the innocent victim, investigators said. His family, including the grandmother he'd lived with since he was 5, was heartbroken. Two days after his death, friends gathered outside the town house, hugging and wiping away tears.
“Why? What was the motive? Why? Why?” Alice Osorio, Nizzear’s grandmother, said. “I don’t understand. Ain’t no word to explain it. I’m like an empty shell.”
Police initially said Nizzear had been shot while he was asleep. But Cofer said she believes he was still awake, excited from celebrating his birthday, and planning to watch TV all night. That makes it even harder for Cofer to understand how it could’ve been mistaken identity.
Nizzear was a straight-A student who’d earned the nickname “Jimmy Neutron” for his quick math skills. He considered creating video games when he grew up, but Cofer just knew he’d be a successful businessman. Her nephew was polite and well-mannered, and Cofer treated him like one of her own children, even taking him on family trips.
“Sometimes, God takes people away from us just to get our attention,” Cofer said.
It was Nizzear’s fun-loving personality and innocence that prompted his family to start an annual community event in his honor. “Nizzear Day” brings those in the community together every August to play games, hear music and have fun, just like her nephew would have wanted, Cofer said. Even the street he lived on has been renamed for him. Osorio isn’t ready to move from her home, which now has a Nizzear Way address.
"She feels like if she leaves, she'll be leaving him,” Cofer said.
Nizzear’s family is constantly reminded of him and how is his life was cut short. But being angry doesn’t help, and whoever was responsible for the boy’s death will live the rest of his life with that burden.
"We're upset, yes. We can't get Nizzear back,” Cofer said. “We have to remind ourselves that God is in control.”
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