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Tijwanda Partee's motherly instinct kicked in when her phone rang late Saturday night.
The message? Her son, 28-year-old Decorrian Partee, had been fatally shot while he was at the Popeye's restaurant at E. 31st Street and Prospect Avenue in Kansas City, Missouri.
Decorrian was an innocent bystander, not connected to the disturbance between several other people that led to gunshots being fired.
Another man was also injured in the shooting.
His family says Deccorian was working three jobs, picking up a DoorDash order, taking care of his family and minding his own business.
"I will never see him get married, I will never see him have any more children, he will never get to see his grandchildren," Tijwanda said.
"We saw his body lying there and not moving, non-responsive, so that was really traumatic for me, my mom and dad," Decorrian's little sister Myana Partee said. "It's something we can't really get out of our heads."
Kansas City, Missouri, police say the alleged shooter, identified in court documents as Joseph Watson, 22, was engaged in a dispute with another victim before the shooting.
Surveillance video from Popeye's showed the first victim leaving his backpack at a table and going up to the counter to speak with an employee.
At 7:55 p.m., Watson and a second person entered the restaurant and sat next to the first victim’s table.
Watson and the victim began arguing not long after.
Court documents stated Watson stood up and appeared to be “clutching something in his coat.”
In the surveillance video, Watson hit the first victim in the face as he walked past him, pulled out a rifle and pointed it at the victim.
The first victim continued to yell at Watson and the other person as they walked out the door, and Watson spit on him — the victim spit back.
Watson then allegedly fired one shot, which entered the first victim’s cheek on one side and exited the other cheek before it struck Partee, who was standing at the counter. Partee died at the restaurant.
Partee's girlfriend told police the two were Door Dashing at the time of the shooting. She decided to stay in the car as he went inside to grab the Popeyes order, per a court document.
After she heard the gunshot, she ran inside and found her boyfriend on the ground.
Michael Thornton, Partee's older brother, says he talked to his brother every day, and he can't get him back.
"All he wanted to do was take care of his family, take care of his kids and enjoy life, but it has been cut short, so I'm really hurting," Thornton said.
Tijawanda says gun violence is really hurting mothers and families.
"I just want to say to the kids out here that's carrying weapons and using them recklessly, 'Baby put the gun down, it's not worth it,'" Tijwanda said.
Watson is charged with second-degree felony murder, three counts of armed criminal action, unlawful use of a weapon and first-degree assault. He is being held in the Jackson County Detention Center on a $250,000 cash-only bond.
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