In their emotional first interview since East Pittsburgh Police Officer Michael Rosfeld was arrested for shooting and killing 17-year-old Antwon Rose, the boy's family told CNN about the life the teen lead — and why they plan to fight for him.
"Antwon was kind, loving, and he would give you the shirt off his back," Rose's mother, Michelle Kelley, told CNN's Erica Hill. "Antwon volunteered not because he had to, but because he wanted to."
The host went on to read part of a poem Rose wrote in 2016, when he was only 15, about being black in America.
"I see mothers bury their sons," one line of the poem, titled "I Am Not What You Think!", read. " I want my mom to never feel that pain."
Kelley told CNN that she didn't exactly know why, but she always made sure her son knew she loved him, and that she told him how important he was to her all the time.
"I never foresaw anything like this happening," she said, "but I just always felt the need to tell him that I loved him."
His sister, Kyra Jamison, described what it was like seeing protesters take to the streets to demonstrate against yet another police killing of a young black person and in support of their family.
"Sometimes it's overwhelming, you know, because it's like, that's my brother," Rose's sister said. "And it's crazy, because all these people are showing so much love and support. We would have never imagined. I mean, we would never have imagined this would have happened to Antwon, but we would never have imagined everybody just trying to help us. We appreciate it, we do. we're not out there yet because we're still going through our movements, but we're going to be out there right with them. We promise that."
"We just want justice for my brother at the end of the day, because my mom, she lost her only son," Jamison continued. "My daughter, she lost her uncle and her role model. I lost my brother and my best friend. He did not deserve that."
Watch their moving interview below, via CNN:
