LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Tiffany Johnson celebrated her son's 15th birthday at his graveside.
The Louisville mother said the reality she now wakes to each morning is still too surreal to fully understand or communicate.
“They don’t know that we’re heartbroken," she said, her voice trembling with emotion. "They don’t know that we can’t go on. They don’t know that our lives are crushed.”
Johnson's son, Skylar Whitney, was shot and killed in Louisville's Shawnee neighborhood in August 2020. Louisville closed out the year with a record number of criminal homicides, ending with 173 deaths, according to a local activist.
“I don’t want him to just be 103," Johnson said. "His name was Skylar Mason Whitney Jr., and he mattered a whole lot.”
Johnson joined three other mothers Tuesday night who've also lost children to gun violence in a Zoom call with WDRB News.
“Raise your hand if you feel like your case is not getting the attention you want it to," WDRB News asked them.
Skylar Whitney was killed in an Aug. 2020 shooting. (Source: Tiffany Johnson)
Three of the four, including Johnson, quickly raised their hands. Some of them admitted they’re losing hope in Louisville Metro Police and hope their sons’ cases will ever see closure.
Patricia Morris-Shelby, one of the mothers, lost her son, Kentrell, in Louisville’s first shooting of 2019. Nicole Cowherd lost hers, Richard "Dookie" Harper Jr., days later. Deshanta Edwards’ son, Donte, died after a Shively shooting in March 2019. Now, a new police chief has taken the reins of LMPD. Atlanta Police Department's former chief, Erika Shields, was sworn in Tuesday morning.
"This was the only job that I wanted," Shields said after taking her oath.
In a speech, Shields promised the community change, and the parents of murdered children said there’s a lot she needs to deliver on.
“We want to see change in as far as the detective," Cowherd said.
Even though Cowherd is satisfied with the detectives working her son’s case, others feel forgotten.
“I ain’t heard from the cold case file detective since he had the case," Morris-Shelby said.
“They haven’t personally called me, no," Johnson added. "Have I tried to call them? Yes. And again, it’s, ‘No leads.’”
The parents also want Shields to fight for bigger bails and stricter sentences. Right now, they say "slaps on the wrist" are perpetuating Louisville's violent cycle.
Edwards wants her to work closer with departments like Shively, where her son was killed.
“It’s a pain that I wouldn’t even wish on my worst enemy," Edward said.
Ultimately, the parents want something concrete from Shields.
“You know, I don’t want you selling us no type of dream," Morris-Shelby said. "I just need to know, 'What's your plan?'”
Cowherd echoed the same question for Shields.
Johnson instructed Shields to hire more detectives and focus more efforts on enforcement and removing illegal guns from Louisville's streets.
“It’s hard," Cowherd said. "I mean, to go through life every day without your child — it’s hard.”
In a previous interview with WDRB News, Shields said the family members of homicide victims would be her "highest priority."
"One of the things that I will be doing, one of my first action items, will be to see the caseload that each homicide investigator has, because at some level, if you start carrying too many cases, the work quality drops off," Shield said, in part. "And as a part of that, that the families are being communicated with on a regular basis."
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