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Michelle Kenney is a mother who is heartbroken and still reeling three months after her son Antwon Rose was shot and killed by East Pittsburgh Police.
—Lawyer for officer who killed Antwon Rose demands judge recuse himself from trial—
“I sit on the porch now waiting for my son to come home,” Kenney said in an interview with KDKA CBS.
Kenney, still in disbelief sits many days in a daze waiting for her life to return to what it used to be when she like most mons would check on her son in the early morning, making sure he made it to his school bus on time.
“It’s crazy ’cause school started, and I still wake up at 6 o’clock in the morning to double-check to make sure that he got up and he doesn’t miss the school bus,” she said.
Officer Michael Rosfeld shot and killed the fleeing 17-year-old after officers stopped the car he and friends were driving in. The rookie officer, who had been sworn in just a few hours earlier, was charged with criminal homicide after investigators said his story changed during his interview.
Still as her heart aches for her deceased son, Kenney has found a way to foster some semblance of understanding for the situation.
“I understand both sides. I just never thought that I would be on this side,” she said.
“I have the utmost respect for law enforcement. I taught my children to have the utmost respect for law enforcement. My kids hung out with other officers’ kids. It’s so hard to believe that someone in a blue uniform was the person that took my son’s life,” Kenney said.
Rose was supposed to attend the Indiana University of Pennsylvania this fall. Kenney said the school recently returned her tuition check but she hasn’t had the heart to cash it.
—Activists carry coffins to Dallas Cowboys game to protest fatal police shooting of Botham Jean—
“I couldn’t bring myself to cash it because I know what it represented,” Kenney said. “And that right there was the reality check that my son was never gonna be here to go to college.”
Kenney said she just wants justice for her son, which means Rosfeld serving time for his crime.
“I’d trade his mother places any day of the week. To be able to hug my son or tell him I love him or just see him walk down the street. I’d trade his mom places. I don’t think she would trade me,” Kenney said.