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DAVENPORT, Iowa (Quad-City Times) -- Jamie Shorter sobbed Wednesday as he held his cell phone and tried to talk about the horror he saw on the first day of August.
He tried to explain how Jeramie Shorter was the unintended target when he was killed at the funeral of Jeramie's 8-year-old son.
And another family member said there has been "too much fake news" about the killing.
"I had to help bury my 8-year-old grandbaby. That's a horrible thing to begin with," Jamie said. "Now I'm making plans to bury his father — my own son — tomorrow (Thursday. ) I don't know how we are going to get through this. I don't know how we are going to do this.
"But I do have one thing to say: The world is wrong. The world is wrong about what happened and the world is wrong about my son, Jeramie. (He) was not the intended victim."
On the morning of Saturday, Aug. 1 the Shorter family gathered at Weerts Funeral Home on Jersey Ridge Road, Davenport for the funeral of Jermier Leon Shorter. According to Jamie, the boy battled cancer his entire eight-year life.
Jermier was born May 15, 2012, to Kylea Crawford and Jeramie Shorter in Davenport, according to his obituary.
At roughly 11:30 a.m., Scott County Emergency Communication Center started receiving 911 calls about a disturbance at the funeral home. When Davenport Police officers and first responders arrived they found Jeramie with gun shot wounds.
Police later said the suspect, Nuemonei Laster, 24, was captured after a car chase. He faces charges of first-degree murder, felon in possession of a firearm, eluding, and interference with official acts with a weapon.
Jamie tried to explain what happened that Saturday morning.
"Nuemonei (Laster) and my son are not kin," Jamie said. "Some people have been saying that. Nuemonei had a child with the sister of one of the mothers of one of my son's children.
"Nuemonei did not come to that funeral to kill my son. He got into an argument with someone else and my son had come out of the funeral home to speak with him."
Jamie said he saw Laster had a gun and tried to grab him.
"I grabbed Nuemonei because I knew he had a gun. Nuemonei did not intend to kill my son. One shot hit my son and killed him. There's a lot of rumors going around about how and why my son was killed.
"I know the truth. I was there."
Jamie said Laster's children were at Jermier's funeral.
"It's a horror, what those children experienced that day," Jamie said. "No one wins from this. Everyone loses. I lost a son. Nuemonei's people are going to lose him. Lives lost for nothing, for what was really a mistake."
Jamie said he's struggled with how to tell the story of what he says happened that Saturday morning.
Willie Shorter, who identified himself as Jermanie's cousin, said he plans to attend Wednesday's regular meeting of the Davenport City Council.
"I'm going to speak about what (the media) did to my cousin after he was shot," Willie said. "My cousin was disrespected, killed at a funeral, and then he was disrespected by the Davenport Police and the media by running stuff about Jeramie's past record."
Willie was not clear about which media published or broadcast information about Jeramie past record. The Quad-City Times did not publish anything about Jeramie's record in any stories about his killing.
"People online talking about how it is alright my cousin got shot because 'If you live by the gun, you die by the gun.' That's fake news. That's a fake story. I don't care about how people feel about my cousin, I'm going to tell the straight story," Willie said.
Willie also said Jeramie was not the intended target.
Laster is slated to be arraigned Sept. 10 after Seventh District Court Judge Mark R. Lawson granted a continuance Wednesday. In court documents the county attorney has not offered any reason for why Laster was at the funeral home Aug. 1 or why Jeramie was shot.
Willie said "rumours and fake news" will cause "more violence."
"Innocent people are spreading blood out here because of all the fake news," Willie said. "Not everyone up on that hill is a criminal. And people are mad that victims are called criminals and their killings are justified.
"I'm going to city hall tonight (Wednesday) to say it loud — when it's black-on-black crime the Davenport Police don't care. They will make the victim into a criminal."
Willie said "there's going to be a war over this if people don't stop telling false stories about what happened."
"The young ones are mad. They are mad at the media," Willie said. "They are mad at what they hear. I can't stop them from retaliating."
For Jamie, the story of his son's death is hard to explain to "people who just make assumptions."
"My son was trying to bury his own son," Jamie said. "You don't think there can ever be anything sadder than that. And this thing happened. Nobody was there to kill anybody.
"I'm on this phone, talking to you, and we are making plans for another funeral. This can't go on. It's all a horrible mistake."
