A mother wants answers, her son shot in broad daylight while rehabbing a home



MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- A candlelight vigil was held Thursday evening for Robert James, the victim of a homicide near North 15th Street and Atkinson Avenue on Tuesday afternoon. The 30-year-old James was rehabbing a home in the area when he was shot and killed.  Reports claim James may have been killed by a disgruntled tenant, but Milwaukee Police have not specified the motive for the shooting, and continue to investigate this incident.

FOX6 News attended the vigil and spoke with family and friends of James.  Family is trying to figure out why Robert James was gunned down. They say he was working to clean up a neighborhood.

"To all you mothers that god kids, cherish them. Because we don't know what tomorrow is going to bring," said James mother, Gloria Nichols.

Consoling music, drowned out by the cries of a mother, gathered with loved ones during the vigil. Remembering her son's life that was taken suddenly.

"One day they here, and the next day they gone," Nichols said.

Candles lit up the darkness during the vigil as families remember James as a successful business man, and someone with a sense of humor. Unsure of a motivation, wondering what prompted such a hateful act.

"It's just petty, a young black man trying to do something for himself and somebody just took his life, senseless," said

A senseless crime a mother may never understand.

"It was too much love coming through my family, and he destroyed that and took that away from me," said Nichols.

FOX6 News asked the family about a possible motivation.  They said, money or jealousy.

No one has been arrested in this case. Anyone with information should contact police at 414-935-7360.