Family waiting for ‘justice to be served’ 3 years after deadly Clarksville shooting

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Every year on May 16, Celia Kelly and her family go to their backyard, pray over a memorial and release a set of balloons into the air.

It’s a somber occasion both remembering and celebrating the life of the loved one they lost in a Clarksville shooting three years ago. However, Kelly said there’s not a day that goes by that she doesn’t think of her 20-year-old son, Kahlil Robinson .

“We remember him every day. His brother sits out there, and he’s just infatuated with the skies,” she said. “Every time the sky is like a red kind of color-ish orange, he’ll say, “Oh, I was praying today, and I was talking to brother and that’s a sign that he’s hearing me’.”

Officers with the Clarksville Police Department found Robinson lying in the road with multiple gunshot wounds around 5:41 p.m. on May 16, 2021. He died only a short time later.

Minutes before he was found, Kelly said she received a call from someone saying there had been a shooting on Peachers Mill Road and it looked like Robinson’s car was there.

“So, I immediately started calling him. And he was not the type of son that would not answer my call,” she said. “I always got a call from him or a message saying, ‘I’m gonna call you right back, Mom.’ Because we spoke mostly every day.”

When she didn’t get a response back, Kelly knew something was wrong. Being states away in Texas, she began calling everyone she knew trying to get someone to check on him, but no one could get close to the site where the shooting had happened.

“A mother always has that kind of intuition, and I was just so uneasy after that call. I just started praying,” Kelly said. “And I was like, Lord, whoever it is, and if it is Khalil, you know, let it be that he’s going to be OK. I just started praying immediately.”

Three hours later, her nephew in Clarksville called to let her know a detective was at his door. Around 9 p.m. she learned that her son had passed away.

“And I just lost it at that moment,” Kelly said. “I don’t remember anything else. Literally, I just dropped to the ground, and I remember sitting there for three days in the same spot. I couldn’t think, I couldn’t get up. I was in a state of shock.”

‘I just have to wait for justice to be served’

Now three years later, Kelly said she still lies awake at night thinking about how her son’s killer is still out there somewhere. While investigators have some leads on a possible suspect in the shooting, no arrests have been made.

Surveillance video reportedly showed a black Nissan Rogue SUV following Robinson’s car as he left a convenience store shortly before the shooting. However, Kelly said she’s been told police need more evidence to make an arrest.

“That’s a tough pill to swallow. In my heart, as a mother, I knew my son’s friends and he didn’t have too many,” she said. “And you know how you have that tug in the feeling when you see someone, it’s almost like I could, in my head, I can sense who did it, but I just have to wait for justice to be served.”

Robinson’s only daughter was less than a year old when he was killed. Described by his mother as a “family-oriented” man, Robinson had gone back to his family’s hometown of Clarksville after graduating from school to help take care of his grandfather with Alzheimer’s disease.

“It was just like he would take his shirt off his back to give to any of his friends, family members, anything like that,” Kelly said of her son. “He was very caring, loving. Very close to his family.”

To her surprise, Kelly encountered many people who were willing to do the same for her as she flew from Texas to Tennessee to plan her son’s funeral.

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Several people prepared meals for Kelly and her family and sent her anything that she needed as she continued to grieve — something that has now inspired her to give back and push for change.

“I never knew that people cared about us so much,” she said. “That’s one thing that I want to do in honor and memory of my son is try to support and create some kind of foundation that can assist those parents that are going through the same thing that I experienced with gun violence.”

On the third anniversary of her son’s death, Kelly was wearing a shirt bearing the phrase, “No more silence, stop gun violence,” along with a photo of Robinson on a necklace and a bracelet she hasn’t taken off since the day he died.

“I just really, really want to stress it to the community out there. This is happening a lot, and it’s happening to our young youth,” Kelly said. “We’ve got to come together to stop this because if not, they’re going to continue to do this. And again, you never know when it’s going to be your door knocked on.”

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Clarksville-Montgomery County Crime Stoppers is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in connection with Robinson’s death.

“We just take all the memories that we have of Kahlil, and we just cherish that but definitely want justice,” Kelly said. “His baby girl has to live without her father. She didn’t ever get to know him, and it just, it hurts. I just would not wish this on anybody.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Lee at 931-648-0656, ext. 5295 , the Crime Stoppers Tipsline at 931-645-8477 or go online and submit a tip anonymously by clicking here .

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