Reshaun Cates, 34, worked as a violence interrupter for Bull City United. His mother Doris Cates said her eldest son had his struggles in the past but in the last two years had turned his life around.
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On Sunday, Cates was on his way to pick up his 1-year-old son when someone opened fire into his vehicle as he drove on the off ramp from I-85 North to Hillandale Road. Cates was dead by the time first responders arrived at the scene.
"It's something no parent should have to do, and now I've got do it," Doris said.
There aren't tears in Doris' eyes because she's still in shock.
"I called my baby boy, because we share each other's location. Asked, 'Have you heard from Marbles?' We call him Marbles," she said. "He checked his location and said 'Ma, he's on Hillandale.' I said, 'Well I've been calling all morning and he's not answering.' He said 'Ma, he's on Hillandale just sitting still.'"
Doris sent her other son to the location and he discovered the unthinkable.
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"He was really into gang stuff and then he turned his whole life around," she said.
ABC11 interviewed Reshaun a few weeks back in McDougald Terrace for National Night Out. He knew personally how easy it is for poverty and gun violence to go hand in hand.
"A lot of people that's poverty stricken, they want things they can't afford or whatever and that translates to them going to do whatever they feel like they need to get it. Whether its breaking into somebody's stuff, robbing," Reshaun said.
As for his family, they're grieving the loss of their loved one. Reshaun was a man they call a community advocate and family man. His toddler son is now left to grow up without his father.
"When it came to Malachi, everybody got put on hold. Even down to me. I'd call and he'd say, 'I've got Malachi in the tub. I'm on daddy duty,'" Doris recalled.