Grieving mother seeks answers after 17-year-old son fatally shot: ‘You took somebody who was loved’

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC/Gray News) - A grieving mother is pleading for answers after investigators say her 17-year-old son was found shot to death outside a Georgia apartment complex.

The pain in Tyesha Abdullah’s voice was unmistakable as she described the devastating loss of her 17-year-old son Antonio Thornton Jr., known as TJ. He was her firstborn, only son and best friend.

“They just left him there. They left my baby there. They left him out there for hours,” Abdullah said.

Agents with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation responded to the Magnolia Lane Apartments in Bloomingdale around 7:45 a.m. last Sunday after a 911 call came in reporting a young man’s body had been found outside. Investigators identified the victim as Thornton and said he had been fatally shot.

Abdullah is still struggling to make sense of the situation. She and her son had a close bond, having been baptized together just a year ago.

“Why would you take his life?” she said. “If they did that, you could have called the police and said anything, but they left him.”

The family says their loss is immeasurable.

“You took somebody who was loved,” Abdullah said. “You took somebody who had this whole future ahead of him.”

Thornton was an honor student at Archer High School, where he played basketball, and was actively involved in his church. He also helped his mother run her business and was set to graduate soon. He had dreams of attending college and becoming an engineer.

“He planned on going to school to be an engineer,” Abdullah said. “Now, my baby can’t walk across the stage. He can’t go to school. He’s not going to get married. I’m never going to hear from my baby again.”

As of Sunday night, no arrests have been made in the case, and authorities are asking anyone with information to come forward. Abdullah is also urging the public to help bring justice to her son; though she knows it won’t bring him back.

“It won’t bring my baby back, but it’ll give me a little bit of closure,” she said. “The people that did this to my son are still on the streets, and they’ll shoot somebody else and kill somebody else.”

She added, “If you will leave him out there on the ground and go on with your life, like you didn’t take a brother, like you didn’t take a son, like you didn’t take a friend, it’s scary because you’ll do it to somebody else.”

A GoFundMe has been created to support Abdullah as she plans a graduation homegoing for her son.

Thornton’s body has been sent to the GBI Crime Lab in Pooler for an official autopsy.

Tips can be submitted anonymously to the Bloomingdale Police or the GBI tip line.

GBI Tip Line: You can call 1-800-597-8477 to submit anonymous tips to the GBI about this case or any other information you may have. You can also submit tips online via the GBI website or through the “See Something, Send Something” mobile app. (GBI Investigative Division)

Bloomingdale, Georgia, Police Department: You can contact 912-748-8302.