LAKE CITY, Fla. — He wasn't the target, and yet he was the one killed.
Investigators and family members say they're certain that people know who killed the father of two in a drive-by shooting last December and yet, the community isn’t talking.
It began like any average day - December 15, 2022.
Emmanuel Lewis, 27, was chatting with two friends in the driveway of a Lake City home that he shared with his girlfriend. His friends were inside a car, while Lewis stood outside the vehicle speaking with them, that’s when a small, gray SUV approached.
“They circled the block one time and then drove up and started shooting,” tells Investigator Greg Burnsed with the Lake City Police Department.
"Officers arrived, and they located three individuals that had been shot. One was deceased at the scene, two others were transported for their injuries.”
Lewis was dead, but Burnsed says he believes the real target were the two friends. They would recover from their injuries, but so far have not helped the investigation.
“To put it blunt, they have not been helpful at all. We feel they know exactly who it was,” he says.
It's deeply painful for Lewis’s mother, Maesherrell McCray.
"My son is in the dirt while they are walking free. The guys in the car, they know,” McCray said through tears. ”It’s like, they are supposed to be his friends. Y’all said you were his friends, he always tried to help you all. So why not tell the truth?”
She says her son was devoted to his 7-year-old- son and excited to welcome another child, born not long after his death. McCray says her heart hurts that his children won’t have him as they grow up and as a mother, she will never see him or hear his voice ever again.
"’Mama you alright? Mama, you good? I love you Mama.’ I am not going have that conversation anymore. I am not going to hear those words anymore,” she said.
Burnsed says while they are working this murder investigation, physical evidence is not going to solve every case. They need community cooperation.
“Because in this instance, an innocent bystander was killed because of their [the friends] argument with someone else. If they would tell us who it is and testify we could put someone away and no one else would have to be hurt by that individual,” Burnsed explains. ”As long as these individuals have issues with each other and keep shooting at each other there is a possibility somebody else innocent is going to get hurt.”
As they wait for answers, McCray says she will continue to pray there is accountability.
“I don’t have no hatred in my heart,” she says. ”I am angry, yes. I am sad, my family is sad. We are hurt.”
If you know anything about the murder of Emmanuel Lewis in Lake City, you can call in your tip in anonymously to Columbia County Crime Stoppers at 386-754-7099. They will not ask for your name and can offer cash rewards.