Dominique Lamberth’s life has been forever changed by the tragic loss of her 17-year-old son, Kevin Guy III, who was shot and killed in Durham on Tuesday night. Kevin was an outgoing and funny young man who loved to rap and had a promising future ahead of him. His mother remembers him fondly, saying, “Now I can’t hear my child unless I play his music, which I’m going to forever play.”
Lamberth is trying to stay strong for her family, but the pain of losing her son is overwhelming. “When I get by myself, I can’t help but break down because I just want my son back, that’s all, and I know deep down it’s something I can never get back,” she said.
Kevin was with his 16-year-old brother and cousins that night when the shooting occurred. Lamberth received a devastating call from her 16-year-old son, telling her that Kevin had been shot. She rushed to the scene, but by the time she arrived, Kevin was already in an ambulance. “He died on the way to the hospital, and it hurts the most because he died by himself, nobody was on the ambulance with him,” she said.
The shooting also hit a nearby home, with about two dozen bullets striking the residence. A woman inside was injured, and police reported that a man was killed and two others were injured in a separate shooting on W Club Blvd. in Durham that same night.
Lamberth is struggling to come to terms with the senseless violence that took her son’s life. “I really don’t know why it happened, so I can’t really say,” she said. “I feel like my son was just caught up in something that had nothing to do with him, to be honest.”
Kevin’s death has left a gaping hole in the family, and Lamberth is mourning the milestones she will never get to see her son reach. His 18th birthday was just around the corner, and she had planned to take him to Atlanta and buy him a car, a promise she made to him for staying out of trouble in recent years. “To go from getting everything together to plan an 18th birthday, to planning a 17-year-old’s funeral, it doesn’t make sense,” Lamberth said.
The community is coming together to support the family, and a fundraising campaign has been set up to help cover funeral expenses and other costs. Kevin’s loved ones are remembering him as a talented and kind young man who had so much to offer the world.
The Durham Police Department is investigating the shooting and is urging anyone with information to come forward. Lamberth is hoping for justice for her son and an end to the senseless violence that has claimed so many young lives.
