PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — On the morning of August 31, 2023, Ten on Your Side shared with viewers a few details on a murder that took place the night before in the 100 block of Woodland Road in Hampton. The story included the basic information that was provided by police.
“Hampton police have a suspect in custody for a deadly shooting. Officers were called to Woodland Road just before 11:30 last night, they say Jahmee Harris allegedly shot 26-year-old De’Quan Studwell.”
At the time of the morning broadcast, Ten on Your Side didn’t know the victim’s mother was on the scene and watched the last moments of her son’s life. Dr. Sherri Watson shared harrowing details more than a year after her son’s death.
“I came home from work and, a friend of his girlfriend was at the house, and they were leaving out, and, they went outside into the car. They were having a, you know, were talking back and forth.”
“They were outside talking, sitting in the car talking. Next thing I know, I got a phone call while I was in the house from his girlfriend saying that, I need to come outside because my son was arguing with her cousin, and he wasn’t the one to be played with. And I need to come outside again.”
“So I walk out the door, and as I’m walking out the door across my grass because I was holding on to that, I mean, on a corner of a cold set. So my house is on their corner, so I’m walking across the grass to the sidewalk, walking towards them to find out what’s going on and to literally tell my son, come on in the house and, I watched this young man reach and pull out a gun to shoot my son.”
“That moment just was the most horrific time of my life. Experiencing and watching my son fall to the ground. He shot him twice. The second bullet is what literally put him on the ground. And, I knew he was dead on the spot.”
On August 30, 2023.Dr. Sherri Watson’s life changed forever. The son who asipired to be a chef was killed by gunfire.
“It gets better some days. Some days it get worse, but it never goes away because I can’t call him. I text his phone, still texts, phone looking for a response.,” said Watson.
In a review of archival video, Ten on Your Side found three stories concerning men with the last name Studwell who were killed by gun violence in Newport News. Dr. Watson was related to one victim and the other victim was regarded as a family member.
“One of them is my nephew. The other one is called a cousin of the family. Yes, that’s on my children’s father’s side,” said Watson.
From pain to purpose, Dr. Watson is calling on the community to join her on Saturday at noon under the historic Emancipation Oak on the campus of Hampton University for a walk to Mill Point Park.
“Tomorrow we are walking starting at eight to walk in from the Emancipation Oak Tree, and we’re going to walk across the bridge to Mill Point Park. And we’re standing at that oak tree because that’s where it all begins is symbolized freedom, a place where hope first bloom for people who has been silenced, shackled, and for that under that same tree, the Emancipation Proclamation was read aloud in the South for the first time, a declaration that said, you are free, your life matters, and your voice will no longer be ignored.
Earlier this year, the man accused of killing De’Quan Studwell was found not guilty in a jury trial.
