Not all grandmothers in the Black community are the sweet, candy-carrying, pie-making and sanctified matriarch of the family. Take, for example, this 72-year-old grandmother from Tennessee who police say pulled out a gun to protect her kin.
Outside the Mitchell Community Center, police say a fight broke out between a Black boy and a few other teens last week. Suddenly, a gunshot rang out sending the two and the remaining crowd of high schoolers in the parking lot scattering in every direction, as captured by surveillance footage. Police say the shot didn’t come from any of the teens but rather a 72-year-old Black lady who was later identified as the grandmother of the boy caught in the tussle.
Joyce Brown told police she had gone to the center to retrieve her grandson after receiving word that a group of 10 kids wanted to jump him. In the midst of the chaos, she told police she heard the teens threaten to flip her car over and she fired a warning shot onto the asphalt, per court records via FOX 13 Memphis.
In further defense, Brown’s relatives told local reporters the grandson was a victim of bullying and commended Brown for stepping in to intervene.
“Now when you tell the neighbor the child did something, you want to argue about what your child didn’t do? That’s the problem. When are we going to be men and women? Start being parents instead of friends,” said Brown’s son, Marcus, to FOX 13 Memphis.
Brown was arrested and charged with three counts of reckless endangerment, child abuse or neglect, unlawful possession of a weapon in a public place and carrying a weapon on school property.
Luckily, Brown posted her $20,000 the day after her arrest. Since then, her son organized a GoFundMe to raise money to cover her legal defense fees.