Shawna Brady said she did not let her late son TréVon Dickson go to many funerals over the years even though friends, classmates and people he played youth sports with around Columbus kept getting shot and killed.

That includes the funeral of TréVon’s friend, 14-year-old Jaykwon Sharp, who was fatally shot in 2019 by then-13-year-old Juano Peyton as a result of a fight over a cellphone, Franklin County prosecutors say.

When she found out her 15-year-old son got a gun from a relative to protect them, Brady, a single mom who works two jobs, said she was alarmed.

“He said, 'Mom, times is getting hard out here,'” Brady said. “He said, ‘I can set (my 6-year-old nephew) on the corner of Livingston and he can bring me back four guns.' I was shocked … so I understood.”

And Brady said she doesn’t regret allowing TréVon to keep the gun. Because on April 20, 2021, Columbus police homicide detectives say 15-year-old Nasir Ndiaye shot and killed TréVon outside their East Side apartment. Had TréVon not shot back, striking Ndiaye in one of his legs, Brady said authorities may have never identified Ndiaye as the killer.

TréVon was in eighth grade and had only been 15 for three months when he died.

In an interview ahead of Ndiaye’s scheduled sentencing Thursday morning for involuntary manslaughter in Franklin County Juvenile Court, Brady said she won’t ever forgive Ndiaye.

“He took my baby for no reason,” she said.

[Come back to Dispatch.com later for an update from Thursday's sentencing.]

Brady said Columbus police and Franklin County prosecutors haven’t been able to tell her why Ndiaye rode with a group of young people to her apartment building, someone texted Tre'Von to come outside, and her son was shot — shooting his assailant before dying of his wounds.

And though she doesn't regret allowing TréVon to keep the gun he shot back with, she said she wishes they lived in a Columbus where he didn’t have to carry a gun in the first place.

Related:14-year-old boy sought by Columbus police in New Year's Eve shooting of 15-year-old girl

How many juveniles in Franklin County kill?

The Dispatch tracks homicides in Columbus and Franklin County using police media releases and public records. In an effort to determine how many juveniles kill each other or other people, the newspaper reviewed its data.

From 2018 through Tuesday, at least 56 teens age 17 or younger have been charged in a homicide case in Franklin County. The youngest youth charged during that time was 13 years old.

The vast majority of the killings were shootings, reflecting a rising rate of gun violence in the Columbus area in recent years and across the nation.

In at least 20 cases charged in Franklin County since 2018, teens killed other teens or children.  In February 2020, for example, police charged a 13-year-old and a 14-year-old with fatally shooting a 12-year-old.

At least one case last year involved a 14-year-old charged with fatally stabbing another 14-year-old.

Juvenile homicide cases in Franklin County have risen in recent years along with the overall number of homicides, Dispatch data shows.

Brady, who is active with the local group Mothers of Murdered Columbus Children, said the reasons behind these killings are often senseless.

She said she's not sure why Ndiaye wanted to hurt her son. The only thing she can think of is an altercation the teens got into a couple of years prior on the sidelines of a youth football game.

Franklin County judge decides to keep case in juvenile court

Ndiaye’s case is somewhat unique because Franklin County Common Pleas Juvenile Judge James Brown decided not to bind the case over to the court’s general division, or adult court, where Ndiaye would be tried as an adult.

Most juveniles like Ndiaye who are charged with delinquency murder or similar charges in Franklin County are bound over to adult court. Judges are more likely to keep younger offenders in juvenile court.

Brady said she was frustrated that Ndiaye wasn’t bound over.

“Even though you were 15, you acted like an adult and you took my son's life. So I feel like you should be penalized like an adult,” Brady said.

As part of a plea deal with prosecutors, Ndiaye, now 17, pleaded guilty on Dec. 8 to involuntary manslaughter.

Ndiaye is facing a serious youthful offender sentence Thursday morning. This means Brown will impose a juvenile disposition (detention with the Ohio Department of Youth Services or community control) and an adult sentence (possibly time in an adult prison), with the latter only taking effect if Ndiaye misbehaves while in DYS.

At the sentencing hearing, a victim witness advocate with the Franklin County Prosecutor’s office will read some of the many letters Brady solicited from friends, family and coaches to write about TréVon, who sometimes went by Tré or Spazz.

Brady said she also plans to speak in court Thursday and tell the judge about how her son was her protector, that he got good grades in school and he loved to play football.

“(Ndiaye) still gets to hug his parents,” Brady said. “I don't get to see a prom, a homecoming, a graduation, college ... I don’t get to see none of that.”

Dispatch Staff Writer Bethany Bruner contributed to this report.

jlaird@dispatch.com

@LairdWrites

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Sentencing for 15-year-old Columbius teen who shot another 15-year-old