Family questions account of teen's shooting death

Monday afternoon, the wounds were still fresh at the Central Court Apartments in Tampa Heights as people gathered to erect memorials for 16-year-old Javon Neal.

Investigators say Neal was shot and killed by two Tampa police officers after a short chase through the complex around 7:30 p.m. Sunday night.

Monday, his mother was in mourning.

"He was a sweet outgoing kid, everybody in the community know how JJ was," said Kethessa Fordoms.

Police say Javon, known as "Jay Jay", fit the description of a suspect reportedly shooting in the complex Sunday evening.

They say when they approached him, he ran up to the third floor of an outdoor stairwell.

"While he was running up, they can see that his hand, his right hand is at his side and he appears to be holding something," said Tampa Police Spokesperson Laura McElroy.

Police say that "something" was a gun, which they say played a prominent role in his death.

"He turned away from the officers and they see him pulling something out of his pant leg, then he turned back towards the officers and at that point, they see that he was armed with a pistol grip assault style shotgun," McElroy said.

Police say Jay Jay pointed the gun at the two officers.

"At that point, if the officers didn't fire, they probably would not be here today," McElroy said.

His mother says there's no way that could be true.

"Never touched a gun in his life, never," Fordoms said.

And some eyewitnesses say Jay Jay put his hands up when police ordered him to stop.

Police say that's not the case. They say another man was also on the staircase on the second floor.

"As the officer is giving the orders to freeze, stop, show your hands, that man put his hands up," McElroy said.

Police insist Jay Jay did the opposite.

"The sad fact is that he chose to pull that weapon out and point it at two police officers," said McElroy.

Despite this, his family maintains Jay Jay was innocent.

"A very sweet child and he didn't deserve that, he really didn't and yes I do want justice," said Fordoms.

Javon Neal's family say he did not have a criminal record and police say that is true, but they also say he was no stranger to law enforcement.

They say they had contact with the young man seven times, none of which resulted in an arrest.

At least two of those incidents were for fighting.