‘My baby is gone:’ Mother desperate for answers after son shot at father’s house
Demario Warren was a sweet, caring, intelligent 4-year-old who liked to ride bikes and play games with his brother. On Wednesday evening, a gun was left on a TV stand in his home. He was fatally shot with it.
Earlier that day, his mother Brandi Parham, took Demario along with his 3-year-old sister and 6-year-old brother to Dayshawn Warren, she told the Charlotte Observer Thursday. That’s their father who lives at the 1700 Place apartments in southeast Charlotte.
The children live with Warren, who owns guns, Parham said. When she dropped them off, Warren was holding one of those guns.
Later that evening shortly after 7:30 p.m., Parham received a phone call no parent wants. Ignoring it at first, a text came through saying “answer the phone it’s about your son.” She immediately went to Demario — who at that point was in the hospital.
When she got there, he was already dead. The 27-year-old mother noted Demario had been shot in the back of the head.
“I instantly knew it could be nothing more than him shooting himself or being shot,” Parham told the Observer. “My baby is gone. There’s no more hugs, no more kisses, and it hurts.”
Heartbroken and overcome with tears and emotion, Parham blames herself for not staying at the house with the father to watch them together, she told the Observer.
Details of how Demario was shot are murky.
After responding to calls of a person shot, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police said in an alert the gunshot wound was self-inflicted. But during a news conference Wednesday evening, officers changed course, saying they couldn’t confirm that, according to Channel 9.
Parham so far has relied on accounts from her 6-year-old son of what happened — but his story keeps changing.
In one version, the 6-year-old said he was in another room and heard a loud “pow” noise. The boy ran into the living room to find his brother lying on the floor with a wound in the back of his head.
When asked again, the 6-year-old says all three kids are in the living room, their dad is asleep and Demario found the gun and shot himself.
The part that stays the same in both accounts is that the gun was left on the TV stand where all three children could reach it.
Parham has pleaded with her son to tell her what really happened, assuring him he won’t be in trouble. But neither Demario’s siblings fully understand what has happened, she said.
“I told him, your brother’s gone, like he’s dead,” she said.
Warren, 25, has been arrested and is in custody at the Mecklenburg County Jail. He is charged with involuntary manslaughter and giving a weapon to a minor.
Parham hopes the police will investigate fully and provide some justice for her son’s death, she said.
“Sometimes parents do need breaks. I don’t know if he was needing a break or if he was just tired and forgot the gun was out but I just want to let other parents know it’s easy to just put the gun up,” she said.
Demario was best friends with his older brother and a mama’s boy. Now she is left speculating about the future he won’t have.
“I know, he would have had a bright future. I know it,” she said. “I know he would have been well known, probably a YouTuber because he loved YouTube.”
The child’s grandmother Jae Golanski said no words can express how the family is feeling at this time.
“A mother should never have to bury her child,” Golanski said in a recent Facebook post.
The family has set up a gofundme page to help with funeral expenses for the child.
“I love you son, I’ll be with you real soon,” Parahm posted on Facebook after his death. “Mommy will love you forever & ever. I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you from this my baby boy.”
This is a developing story and will be updated with more information.
This story was originally published November 3, 2022 at 9:56 AM.
