GASTONIA, N.C. — Four years after a shooting death in Gastonia, the victim’s mother is trying to turn grief into hope.
Someone shot and killed 19-year-old Uriah McCree while he was driving on Interstate 85 in Gastonia.
Christina Michaels wants to ensure no one forgets her son’s unsolved homicide.
Michaels is taking a small step to try to get answers. She placed a cross along I-85 at Exit 13.
She hopes someone on the route will see the sign and remember what they saw there years ago.
“I couldn’t go up and down that highway without having a panic attack, an anxiety attack, every time I rode through that area,” Michaels said. “I felt like I couldn’t breathe.”
Michaels and her family placed the cross at the location in March.
“I still cry, and I still grieve him every single day of my life,” she told Channel 9’s Ken Lemon. “It’s the biggest loss I’ve ever endured in my life.”
There was a passenger with him who managed to get the van off the busy highway.
“The cross represented hope for me and for him that somebody will come forward with information,” Michaels said.
Michaels told Lemon for years that she had little mercy for the shooter or anyone involved.
She said since then, she has given her life to God.
“God showed me and talked to me and revealed to me that I have to forgive them,” the mother said.
She hopes the cross that brings her comfort will also bring closure.
“I’m not going to give up in my fight for justice for him,” she said.
Michaels said she will plant flowers at the cross on Mother’s Day. She wants people passing to know her son is loved and missed.
The investigation, which has not led to an arrest, remains open, and there is a $25,000 reward.
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