LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A grieving Louisville mother believes she's a step closer to getting justice nearly four years after Louisville Metro Police officers shot and killed her son.

Semone Carter and her attorneys believe a recent testimony by Steve Conrad, the former chief of the Louisville Metro Police Department, proves their case.

Semone Carter-Shelby Gazaway's mother.jpeg

Semone Carter, Shelby Gazaway's mother. (WDRB photo)

Police body camera footage from November 2019 shows Metro Police officers confront Carter's son, Shelby Gazaway, 32, in the parking lot of the Kroger store in Louisville's Portland neighborhood.

"That was obviously the last thing that I would have ever thought," Carter said. "He was my only boy, my first child, and I, as his mother, sent him to the grocery store."

While Carter continues to grieve, she also continues to demand answers in her son's death.

"He turned around. He walked out of the store. And you know the rest of the story," she said. "I felt like my son got ambushed."

Police responded to the Kroger after reports of a confrontation between Gazaway and a man with a knife inside the store.

"The report from witnesses is that as Gazaway was in Kroger shopping for his mom, someone walked up to him and threatened him with a knife," the family's attorney, Gregory Simms, said.

Gazaway's family and attorneys said he fired a warning shot inside the store, then walked out.

"So, but, you hear them holler 'Hey! Hey!' and then they start firing on my son," said Carter. "They did not give Shelby the opportunity to stop, to raise his hands."

After his death, Gazaway's family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Louisville Metro Police Department.

"The autopsy shows that clearly he was shot in the back at least four times," said Simms. 

Last week, former LMPD Chief Steve Conrad was deposed by attorneys for Gazaway's family as part of the lawsuit.

When asked if the name Shelby Gazaway meant anything to him, Conrad responded "I recognize it from the litigation."

Conrad responded to the scene after the fatal shooting and has also watched the body camera footage and surveillance video from Kroger of the shooting.

When asked if Conrad recalled Gazaway pointing a gun at any individual, Conrad replied "Again, I ... I don't recall that. I have not seen the video since 2019."

After the shooting, LMPD said Gazaway pointed a gun at the officers. But after several years, Conrad admits he doesn't remember all of the details, so he was asked to watch the video again.

"Any information that you received or any indication that officers gave Shelby Gazaway instructions to drop his gun prior to firing on Shelby Gazaway?" the interviewer asks Conrad, who replies "Not that I recall."

Officers Patrick Norton and Alex Dugan responded to the scene that night.

"I think Norton moved because he was seeing a physical threat and he was firing to protect his life," said Conrad.

While he said the officers may have perceived Gazaway as a threat, he also gave Carter something she's wanted since losing her son.

"For me, what he did is he just acknowledged what we, as my family, knew," she said. "Not only did that give me comfort, Chief Conrad actually came up to me, he shook my hand and he apologized. That, that more than anything, meant a lot to me."

Gazaway's family has watched, waited and followed other cases like Breonna Taylor and George Floyd.

"I truly understand what those families are going through," Carter said. "I do. I just, I hate it for all of us."

And she's praying for a similar outcome for her family.

"I just want justice," she said.

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