Monday night, Angela Crockett lost her youngest son.
"He died in my arms," she told us through tears.
Everett Crockett, a first-time father who lived with his mother, worked and attended community college, his family says. Monday night, his future ended, and it all began with a cracked taillight. A neighbor accused him of breaking it with his car. She called security at the Cullen Park Apartments.
Top Gun security patrols the complex. Two armed security guards responded, and there were words.
"And began getting quite belligerent, cursing, calling them names and telling them they didn't have the right to do anything," said John Beegle with Top Gun Security.
Crockett left. One guard claims his car brushed him as it drove by. Then Crockett's mother called him, asking him to return, perhaps to apologize. It would end in Everett Crockett's death. The guards claim he was speeding toward them.
"Our officer was standing 20 feet in front of vehicle and punched accelerator, leaving officer with no option but to defend his life," said Beegle.
Four shots were heard. One struck Crockett in the back. He died at the scene in his mother's arms, but his family argues it was no case of self-defense. They say there was no speeding car, only a bullet through the windshield and a young man dying behind the wheel.
"And I'm like, 'Why did you shoot him? What did you shoot him for?' And all he could tell me was, 'I'm sorry,'" said Crockett.
Beacon has held a state license for the past year and a half and has worked for Top Gun since it began operating four months ago.
The case remains under investigation.
