Update:
Wayne Prince, 24, was sentenced on May 21, 2024 to 28 years in federal prison followed by 5 years of supervised release.
Original:
August 7th, 2018, Scott Mckemy says he got the worst call of his life.
His wife called him and told him their son Bryan was shot.
Bryan Mckemy ended up dying at the scene.
Wednesday, Scott and his family sat in a courtroom while one of the shooters, Wayne Prince aka "Taz" pleaded guilty to their sons murder.
“I don’t want to use the word closure I don’t want to use the word victory, but it’s a beginning to an end," says Scott.
The beginning Scott says he has been waiting on for over 5 years.
“When he was asked if do you want to plea guilty, he kind of hesitated, and we thought he was going to like renege on. So that was a tense moment," Scott says.
Wayne prince who is a part of a local gang called the black Guerilla family, or BGF, is now facing 20 to 29 years in federal prison for gang activity and the murder of Bryan Mckemy.
Scott Mckemy says he feels like it's not enough and he is hoping the judge gives prince more time.
“I feel like our family has already been sentenced to a life sentence with no parole, you know. I won’t hear Bryan run in that back door and yell hey dad ever again. I won’t see him have kids or just it hurts," Scott says.
Scott also says when he was in the courtroom he felt a wave of different emotions watching prince’s guilty plea.
One of the strongest emotions, sadness.
“A parent should never bury a child and you know Bryan may have been 27 years old but he was my child," he says.
His message to other people who haven’t experienced losing a child in a shooting;
“Don’t take family for granted you know, you never know in the blink of an eye it could all change. Everything you want everything you thought you had time to do is just taken from you by someone that has no regard for human life." he says.
But Scott says through all this, he never gave up hope seeking justice for Bryan and he says other families who have lost loved ones, shouldn’t give up either.
“I said back then I'm not going away until justice is served and i feel like today it’s starting to be served," says Scott Mckemy.
Sentencing for Wayne Prince is set for March 26th.
