RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — The mother of Xavier Brown says she can now breathe a sigh of relief after the Richmond Police Department reported that a suspect had been arrested.
Latasha Dodson told 8News that when she first heard the announcement, it was bittersweet.
“I’m feeling somewhat relieved that the person who murdered my son will not go unpunished for what he did,” she said. “But it’s still hurtful that he’s not here — that he did murder him for no reason.”
Shortly before 2:15 a.m. on May 21, 2022, Richmond Police officers were called to the 1500 block of East Main Street in Shockoe Bottom for a report of a person down. When officers arrived, they found 23-year-old Xavier Brown of Richmond unresponsive and with a gunshot wound in a parking lot, just a few feet from his parked car. Brown was pronounced dead at the scene.
In June 2022, police said they “strongly believed” surveillance video of the scene showed the suspect who had shot Brown. Brown’s family also offered a $3,500 reward for information in the case.
After eight long months of searching for her son’s killer, police announced on Friday, Jan. 27, that, Jakwon Taylor, 26, of Richmond, had been indicted in connection with the murder of Brown.
“I don’t know if we’ll ever get a ‘why’ during the next phase of this,” Dodson said. “I would really like to know why.”
Brown was known in the Richmond area as an up-and-coming chef with his own private catering business. The night he was killed, he was leaving a Shockoe Bottom nightclub where he had been catering for an event.
“He would always be there,” Dodson said. “Something happened the other week and I’m like I could’ve just called Xavier and he would have been right here to help me.”
Dodson says, as she moves on to the next phase of healing, she will always wonder about what her son could have been.
“He took a gentle soul that we will never know what would have become of Xavier,” Dodson said. “He would’ve gotten married or had children — became that world top chef that he wanted to become.”
