CLEVELAND — Andrea Parra, whose 30-year-old son was gunned down on the city’s West Side Wednesday, told Channel 3 in an exclusive interview Friday that she wants answers about why detectives investigating the shooting towed a car from Cleveland Mayor Frank G. Jackson’s home.
“I don’t know who I want answers from, but I would like some answers,” she said. “You know, as a mother I would like to know, because at this point, I’m never going to see my son again. “
She said her son, Antonio, went to a West Side thrift store for clothes he needed to start a new job at a local restaurant. He was shot outside a Clark Avenue barber shop next door to the store.
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“He talked to me about how excited he was about the job, he had to get his black pants and his shoes and shirt,” she said.
Parra’s mother said her son, who was nicknamed biscuit as child, recently left prison after serving time for illegally possessing a firearm. (He was charged with murder but proved his actions were self defense, which reduced his prison time to that of a firearm violation, she said.)
“He was a laid back, quiet type of person,” she said. “He isn’t disrespectful. He had been taking Tri-C for business."
She said Antonio was making plans to start over and someday move away, perhaps to Atlanta.
“Every time I turn around, it’s like they are killing each other over, just like, crazy things,” she said.
Channel 3 asked the mayor’s office again for comment about why detectives towed a car from his house. His office referred questions to the police, which offered no new information.
Andrea Parra said police told her that her son was targeted.
And attorney for Frank Jackson’s grandson, Frank Q. Jackson, held a press conference Friday and insisted he’s not involved in anyway. She also said she doesn’t know anything about the truck towed from the mayor’s house.
Andrea Parra still needs more, she said.
“So now, I do want real answers, you know,” she said. “And I don’t know if I want them from him, if I want them from the store owner, I don’t know if I want them from Mr. Frank Jackson.”
She told Channel 3 that she worries police will show the mayor special favors.
“He’s the mayor, you know, so a lot of times when people are in high up, when their family member or them do something, it just gets swept under the rug like it’s okay. But it’s not okay," she said.
She said she talked to her son two hours before he was killed. The next time she called him, the police answered his phone and told her he was dead.