LAKELAND — Shawanda Lamones, 39, and her mother, 70-year-old Maebelle Cooper Laster, had plans to make gingerbread houses with Lamones’ four children on Christmas Eve.
Instead, at 5:40 p.m., Laster lay fatally wounded in Lamones’ Amos Avenue front yard and Lamones, her husband Ralph Lamones, Jr., 43, and their 13-year-old daughter were all shot by a group of people Lamones said belong to a local gang.
“It’s just a situation that’s so unfortunate — I don’t really know how to explain. I’m really lost for words because this could’ve been handled so different. We could’ve talked about it like grown-ups," Lamones said. "Instead, it went to violence and my mom wound up dead. Everyone lose out – we lose because my mom is dead. Their family lose out because their person is going to prison.”