CHARLOTTE — A 19-year-old is heading to prison for killing another 19-year-old, but the victim’s grandfather said no one won in court Tuesday. Joelle Clesca’s family is still grieving a loss they say will stay with them forever.
“Joelle meant the world to me,” said his grandfather, Kobie Emmanuel. “He turned my whole life around.”
The victim’s family was inside a Mecklenburg County courtroom as Clesca’s killer, Justin Jones, was sentenced to at least 13 years in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree murder as part of a plea deal.
“I still think that my grandson’s life was worth way more than that,” the grandfather said.
He forgives Jones.
“I can’t hate that guy,” said Emmanuel. “He’s a little, young kid. He’s the same age as my grandchild, so I had to forgive him in order to learn to live again.”
Clesca was shot and killed on Oct. 12, 2025, while inside a Wingstop along Beatties Ford Road.
Jones entered the restaurant wearing a mask, shot Joelle in the chest and ran out.
It was all over a disagreement that nobody knows the details of.
“Young kids running around wanting to be baddies and feel like, ‘I can knock you off. I get a body. That makes me grown,’” the grandfather said. “Violence don’t make you grown. Violence don’t make you strong.”
A plea deal won’t bring Clesca back.
However, his loved ones will do all they can to hold on to and feel the precious memories they made with him.
“We can never go out to eat together,” Emmanuel said. “We can never go to the park together.”
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