The mother of a 10-year-old child who shot and killed a neighbor during an argument was sentenced Friday to five years in prison.
Lakrisha Isaac, 33, was convicted on charges of manslaughter and culpable negligence in the killing of 41-year-old Lashun Rodgers in May 2022, amid complaints from Rodgers’ family that the sentences were far too lenient.
The Memorial Day shooting stemmed from a message Rodgers made on social media, according to an arrest affidavit. Isaac confronted Rodgers through the mail at the apartment complex on Mercy Drive where they both lived.
Isaac passed her backpack containing a loaded gun to her then 10-year-old daughter. A fight ensued between the two women, with neighbors saying Isaac had thrown the first blow. The child eventually pulled the gun from the backpack and shot Rodgers twice, hitting her in the head, before allegedly yelling, “She shouldn’t have hit my mom.”
Isaac and her daughter returned to their apartment while Rodgers was left bleeding on the floor. Neighbors called emergency services, who transported Rodgers to the hospital, where she died from her injuries.
The sentencing comes amid a national debate about charging parents of minors involved in gun crimes. The most prominent case was that of 15-year-old Michigan school shooter Ethan Crumbley, whose parents were each convicted of involuntary manslaughter in separate proceedings.
Several of Rodgers’ family members spoke tearfully during the hearing.
“My smile, my real smile, my daily routine is gone,” said Ashia Johnson, the victim’s daughter. “So suddenly taken by someone for nothing, someone we gave food and popsicles to from our house.”
“You know, if I had been there, the circumstances would have been different,” she said.
The terms of the sentencing were agreed to in a plea deal with prosecutors in May. The victim’s sister, Sharetta Rodgers, said the settlement left her unsatisfied.
“The slap on the wrist and the pat on the back that the court has given you today is not okay,” she said. “It is not okay to take a life and it is not justified. And this is not justice for Lashun Rodgers.”
The victim’s mother, Laura Chambliss, described seeing and speaking to her daughter the same day of the shooting.
“I got my last phone call from Lashun, telling me again that she loved me,” she said. “An hour later I got a call. ‘Mrs. Laura, they killed Lashun. ”
She said she could forgive Isaac and her daughter, but she will never forget.
Isaac did not speak on his own behalf during the hearing.
The judge awarded Isaac 128 days in jail. She will also have to serve three years of probation, take a four-hour parenting course and seek evaluation and treatment for substance abuse.
