FORT PIERCE, Fla. — Two years after the death of their loved one, a Fort Pierce family is still looking for answers as to who killed him.
Betty Lesane last spoke with her son, Victor Phillips Jr., on July 1, 2019.
It was his 33rd birthday.
“Coming home from work that night and he was leaving, I told him I loved him. I told him about Facebook, he got a lot of shoutouts on Facebook. He started laughing. I told him I would see him later,” Lesane recalled Wednesday outside her home.
Victor Phillips went to a home in the 400 block of North 18th Street.
Investigators say he was only there a few minutes when two men approached the house, and Phillips was shot and killed.
“I don’t know who they targeted, I know it wasn’t my son,” said Lesane.
Phillips had worked for more than a decade at Maverick Boats.
Two years after his death, Lesane is disappointed no one has been arrested.
“It’s very frustrating. I know the police are trying to do their job but nobody wants to step up and tell what happened. It is frustrating,” said Lesane.
Fort Pierce police detective Kevin Mohamed says they’re trying to change the culture of silence that prevents people from coming forward.
“Where they can trust us, come to us and if they have information just let us know. Because at the end of the day, we just want to give closure to the family,” said Detective Mohamed.
Lesane says she still visits her son’s grave every week, as she hopes to get justice.
“I tell him how much we love him and miss him. I wish he was here,” she said.
Thursday night, friends and family will gather for a candlelight vigil to remember Victor Phillips Jr. If you have any information about his death, Fort Pierce police ask you to give them a call.