Raychelle Scott was at home in Chicago on Mother’s Day when her son Mike showed up unannounced, having driven all the way down from Madison to surprise her.
That’s the kind of thing he would do.
“He loved me, and I loved him,” she said.
It’s the last time she would ever see him alive.
Four men barged into Mike’s apartment on Northport Drive in Madison yesterday around 4 p.m., punched his fiancee, threatened his children and shot him. He died later Tuesday night.
“He never made it to Father’s Day,” Scott said.
Mike’s father Frank covered his face and broke down.
The family addressed the media Wednesday morning at the offices of the Boys and Girls Club of Dane County to plea for the public to come forward with any information about the crime they called “senseless.”
“Anybody who has any information on what happened to him, call the Madison Police Department,” Scott said. “I’d appreciate it because I’m not leaving this town until I find out what happened.”
“If anybody has any information, call the police about it,” said Mike’s sister, Millicent Scott. “If you know who did this, turn them in. If you did this, turn yourself in. We just want justice.”
“Whoever did this, if you are watching, please help,” said Jessica Marias, Mike’s fiancee, who sat with Mike’s 3-year-old son Jamichael in her lap. “Please turn yourself in. Why would you do this to this man? Why would you hurt his kids and his family like this? Just step up and say something.”
Family members said they did not know why Mike was targeted, and repeatedly stressed that he was a good man.
“Michael’s never been in a gang,” Raychelle Scott said. “None of my boys, I never raised them like that. I promise you he was never in one. I don’t know why someone would be that ruthless to kill my son.”
Online court records indicate Mike has never been charged with a crime in Wisconsin.
“He was a good man,” said Millicent Scott. “I don’t know why anyone would want to do this to him.”
“They took a great father from these kids,” Marias said. “These kids were everything to him. Why would you guys take him from these kids? So unfair. You guys did so wrong.”
“I ain’t got much to say,” Frank said. “I ain’t angry at nobody. I just put it in the hands of the Lord. Somebody took someone from me that I love so much. So, so much. I can’t say no more.”
Madison365 is not publishing Mike or Frank’s last name at the request of the family and Focused Interruption Coalition, members of which were with the family overnight and organized today’s press conference. FIC will help connect the family with support services such as grief counseling, funeral services and alternative housing if necessary, said FIC member Zandra Hagberg.
Madison police said they are still reviewing surveillance video and that the suspects are still at large.
The crime is the latest in an increasing number of incidents of gun violence in Madison, with many community advocates worried that more will come as the temperature rises. Community organizations have sharply criticized Mayor Paul Soglin for committing $400,000 in the 2017 City budget for gun violence prevention, but not actually allocating any of that money yet, nearly halfway through the year.
“If he was serious about this it would have started January 1,” Boys and Girls Club of Dane County CEO Michael Johnson said earlier this month. “We have to stop playing games.”
Last week, Johnson, FIC and mayoral aides say they reached a “verbal agreement” to allocate the first $75,000 to peer support services as well as a citizen response team to support the families of victims in the immediate aftermath of a shooting, which FIC members have been doing informally for nearly three years now.
However the politics play out, Raychelle Scott has only one thing on her mind: justice for Mike.
“I don’t know how I’ll go on,” she said. “I haven’t even been to sleep yet. I have not been to sleep since this happened. Because you know what? I won’t rest until I find out who did this to my son.”
