ROANOKE COUNTY, Va. – A Roanoke man will soon learn his punishment for a shooting that happened inside a Food Lion last February.
“I felt like why lord did this have to happen,” Aretha Cooper, Kemonte Cooper’s grandmother said.
Aretha Cooper is hurt knowing her grandson Kemonte Cooper is behind bars in connection to the Food Lion shooting.
“This right here, I can’t deal with this, I have had the rescue squad come because I’m thinking I’m having a heart attack,” Cooper said.
Aretha Cooper sent a letter that was filed in court documents last month asking the judge who is going to sentence Kemonte. In the letter she says, “My grandson is innocent.”
Aretha claims Kemonte was defending himself.
Aretha Cooper was in court when the Commonwealth’s Attorney showed the surveillance video the night of the Food Lion shooting.
It shows Kemonte Cooper entering the Food Lion and minutes later, Deonsay Foster and Shaqaun Jones followed.
At the checkout, Jones and Cooper had a verbal exchange. Foster then confronted Cooper verbally, which got more intense as time passed.
Cooper was making hand gestures as the argument continued.
It eventually led to Foster taking off his jacket and punching Cooper in the face, knocking Cooper back into gift cards which led to the shooting, injuring two people.
“He had my grandson’s arm pinned, who’s to say he didn’t try to stop shooting,” Cooper said. “I feel that if his mind was in a state of normality if his mind was in a state of normal and he was rational and he could think things may have been different.”
Now, Aretha Cooper is pleading the judge will consider less time for her grandson.
“The eyes cannot lie, the eyes and the heart, you’ll see,” Cooper said.
10 News reached out to Deonsay Foster’s family members, who declined to speak.
We learned Deonsay Foster will be on trial in connection to the incident for misdemeanor assault on Feb. 28.