Kroger Shooting: Open Letter from Suspect's Family

The suspect in the shooting of a toddler, Chazerel Burton, surrendered to police Wednesday. His family then released the following letter:

We, the family of Chazerel “Chaz” Burton, would first like to extend our heart to the family of the child who sustained injuries during this unfortunate incident. We are truly sorry and extremely surprised to hear reports that Chaz may have been involved in this situation.

According to the police and the news reports, Chaz was involved in a mugging, but was stopped by a Good Samaritan. The reports also state that Chaz fired shots at the man who intervened and wounded his two-year-old son who was in the car. If these statements are in fact true, we would like to commend the Good Samaritan for doing what many lack the courage to do and offer heartfelt wishes for your son’s speedy recovery. Believe it or not, we have all been praying for your family and are thankful he is in stable condition. God is good!

Although I have read different reports of what happened on this day, I must admit I have many unanswered questions. Is it certain that Chaz was doing the robbing or is it possible he was being robbed? Has the mugging victim come forward to provide more information on how this “robbery” occurred or even to confirm that Chaz robbed him? Before the mugging, was there a person seen on the surveillance cameras with a gold chain on that later did not? Did this mugging actually happen?

The news also reports that after the Good Samaritan stopped the robbery near Chase Bank, Chaz ran away and was confronted by the man near Kroger’s. Were the police called to report the mugging? It is clear that Chaz had a Kroger’s bag in his hands in the surveillance pictures. So did he snatch someone’s gold chain, fight off the person trying to stop him and run away to Kroger’s to get some snacks? When the Good Samaritan spotted him at Kroger’s, why was there a confrontation?  

While I commend the honorable acts of the man who intervened, I do wonder why he would confront a man he just witnessed mug someone in broad daylight, especially with his wife and young child in the car. I do wish he would not have felt so personally invested in the mugging of a person he did not know, only because doing so put his own family at risk. And I firmly believe that family is the most important thing in a person’s life.

The news reports vary on the number of shots that were fired – some say five or six, while others say as many as 15. There is a very noticeable difference between five shots being fired and 15 shots being fired. Did anyone actually SEE Chaz firing shots? Were all the shells at the crime scene from the same gun? Does the bullet that struck the innocent baby match the shells that would have come from the gun Chaz allegedly fired? Were reports of other gunmen investigated? Were the reports of shots first being fired at Chaz investigated? Were the reports that Chaz was actually being robbed investigated?  

There have been a lot of statements and assumptions made regarding this horrible incident, but which ones are true and which are ones are false? Will we allow the police to railroad a possibly innocent person or will we analyze ALL of the facts and find out what really happened that day?

Chazerel J. Burton is not a bad person. He is a young man who has made continuous attempts to live a positive and prosperous life. It is the wish of his family that he is allowed to do so once this situation has been sorted out.

Again, we offer our condolences to the family of the injured baby and will continue to pray for his complete recovery. We are very sorry your child was caught in the middle of such an unfortunate event and hope that God and time can heal any scars, physical and emotional, this whole ordeal may have caused.

Sincerely,