Her son was shot on Mother's Day weekend. His death has her seeking answers and an arrest

It was Monday afternoon, the day after Mother’s Day. 

Patricia Hester leaned over her 16-year-old son as he was lying still in a bed at Holmes Regional Medical Center, crying and calling his name, hoping for the cherubic-faced boy to blink or twitch. Hoping for anything. 

The ventilator had been removed and Hester was seeking one last miracle. 

“In that moment, in that room, I prayed,” the 46-year-old single mother of eight said tearfully as she shared the painful memory.

“It was after Mother’s Day and I’ll never forget it. I called my baby’s name, I shouted, ‘Do something ... show them that you’re still here, show them’ and the minutes just counted down. He slipped away at 3:04 p.m.”

Kobe Kirkland, a ninth-grade Palm Bay High School student, was fatally wounded Saturday, May 13, just outside his home. 

Melbourne police issued a short statement about the death later. The statement said that Melbourne detectives were continuing to investigate the homicide and then asked the public to call police with tips or information. A spokesperson also noted that the agency was looking for a white Altima seen at the time of the shooting. But no arrests have been made, despite indications that detectives have leads in the case.

Days after Kobe’s death, Hester is asking the community to come together and for Melbourne police to speak out about what she said they know about the shooting. She's calling on officers to do more to make an arrest.

Her son, she said, was an "old soul" who tinkered with mechanics, was selective about his friends and even had his own lawn care business.

“That bullet was not meant for him. But it’s not a secret what’s happened. (The police) have a name," Hester said.

"Why my child’s death is not getting the attention I don’t know. Not everybody is a gangbanger. The police haven’t put out a reward or anything. The person who did this doesn’t deserve to be on the streets. I don’t want anything to happen to him but they need to get him off of the streets.” 

Kobe's death was Brevard’s 20th reported homicide of the year. In 2022, 43 reported homicides were investigated along the Space Coast. 

Melbourne Police: 'Someone's out there'

The circumstances surrounding Kobe’s death have stirred concern in the neighborhoods of south Melbourne and on social media. Quietly, police acknowledge that there is a fear of retaliation as the investigation deepens. 

“We haven’t made an arrest, so there’s someone out there,” Sgt. Ben Slover, spokesperson for the Melbourne Police Department, said Thursday.

“It’s still an active, ongoing investigation,” he added without elaborating further. 

The shooting happened about 9:30 p.m. as Kobe was in the yard at his home in the 900 block of Cedar Drive, working on a golf cart.

“I heard a commotion and went outside, I told everyone to get off my porch. The other kids walked directly next door. Kobe got up off the ground and then there was gunfire, then I dived behind a chair,” Hester recalled. 

The scene was chaotic. Callers to 911 reported that the teen had been shot. 

Officers arrived, along with paramedics. Kobe was taken to the trauma center at Holmes where he was later placed on a ventilator. 

The following night, police were called to a home along Xavier Avenue, where someone fired off a volley of shots. No one was injured at the home, a short distance from Cedar Drive. Police also went back to Cedar following the shooting on Xavier. 

More:Teen dies in Melbourne shooting; search ongoing for gunman

Melbourne police have not released any information about a possible suspect nor have they said whether the case could be connected to other shootings in Melbourne or Palm Bay.

'An old soul'

Kobe, whose family is from Decatur, Georgia, was a fixture in the south Melbourne neighborhood where he lived. If not seen pushing a lawn mower to raise extra money for new athletic shoes, he was stocking a cooler full of Fanta sodas and water to sell on the corner at Lipscomb Street and Florida Avenue. 

“I was 23 when I had him. I was putting myself through nursing school. His grandmother raised him from the time he was four weeks old until he was 5. He was a joy to her; she was not in good health but with him, she blossomed, “ Hester said. 

“Even as a child he worked on cars with his grandfather. He wasn’t afraid of anything.” 

The family moved to Orlando and then Palm Bay before settling in Melbourne.

"He was cooking, even baking cakes. He was always technical, repairing lawn mowers, fixing radios and weed eaters," Hester said. "He was even grilling food at 7 years old. He just had that old soul.”

That free spirit kept him out of trouble, his mom said.

More:Mom seeks answers in double homicide as Palm Bay police search for suspect

“Kobe worked. He was pretty good in school with what he could do. And he was very selective with his friends,” she said, adding that her son was going to surprise her with a trip to the beach for Mother's Day.

"He saved up his money and was going to have my car detailed; he even was going to put speakers in my car so I could listen to music. He was a good boy," she said.

Hester said there has been bad blood on the streets for months, some of it talk involving the unsolved shooting deaths of two teens whose bodies were found at the Compound — the abandoned stretch of overgrown lots in southwestern Palm Bay. The 14- and 16-year-olds were found shot to death in the Compound on Christmas Day. No arrests have been made in that case.

Social media platforms have also been filled with references to her son's shooting death, Hester said, adding that police know about the messages.

"It feels like everything is just pushed under the carpet. One thing I know, the community needs to stand together if no one else will. We need to speak up and protect our children. And for the person who did this, I don't know why he's doing this but I have nothing bad to say," Hester said.

"That bullet should not have been for anyone's child."

J.D. Gallop is a Criminal Justice/Breaking News Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Gallop at 321-917-4641 or jgallop@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @JDGallop.