Cleveland mother desperate for justice in her son’s 2019 murder

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) - It’s been four years since a young Cleveland father was gunned down steps away from his home and his killer is still out there.

Rakeem Ingram, 24, was shot and killed on West 32nd Street in Cleveland almost exactly four years ago.

His mother said she hasn’t heard from detectives since her son’s death, and they never return her phone calls.

Now, she’s begging anyone with any information to come forward.

“I feel like he not at peace because I don’t have no peace because I toss and turn, I’m always teary eyed, I’m always sad so it’s like me not having no justice I know he’s not resting because we don’t have no signs of who killed him and this was in broad daylight,” said Erica Ingram.

Erica has not been the same since she lost her son in September of 2019.

“It never gets better, it’s ongoing pain, it’s a missing part of your life,” Erica said.

Witnesses told the Cleveland mother her son was on the phone when two men with dreads drove up in a dark SUV.

The passenger got out and shot him six times.

“Just dig up some of these unsolved mysteries, unsolved murders help a lot of these other mothers get justice,” Erica said.

She said her son’s cell phone and his work ID were both missing and as far as she knows police never found them. S

o was her son targeted, was it a robbery, or was it random?

“That’s what’s puzzling because he was in prison for five years, never been in this area,” she said. “He only was out four months and the day before he got murdered, he was supposed to get off house arrest.”

Erica said since getting released from prison her son had been focused on turning his life around.

“He was like I just wanna take care of my daughter,” the mother said. “He had got a job; he was doing everything he was supposed to have done so I’m thinking okay you paid your dues you’re about to have a second chance at life and it was just taken in four months.”

She feels like the police forgot about her son. She’s hoping someone watching will call detectives with a new lead.

“I know they got this thing that nobody wanna snitch, but I just tell them imagine if it was at your doorstep because any given day it can be at your doorstep and it’s devastating,”Erica said. “It’s hard from the candlelight to the funerals to the everyday, the nightmares, the PTSD, the not sleeping all of that and just think even like little small anything any small detail could help, it could lead to big details.”

19 News reached out to Cleveland police for an update on Rakeem’s case but so far, we haven’t heard back.

If you have any information that could help solve this case, contact Cleveland detectives.

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