GREENWOOD, S.C. (WJBF) — The family of a man killed nearly two weeks ago in McCormick County is seeking justice for their son. “To me feel like he’s not gone. I’m hurt. I can’t describe the feeling,” Wanda Foster said. “It’s just like they took part of my heart out. It’s just a terrible, terrible feeling.”

25-year-old Billy Watson, Jr. was a beloved son, brother, uncle, and friend. “He always kept that smile on his face, give you the shirt off his back, and wouldn’t hurt anyone,” his mother Wanda Foster. His best friend was Ray Ray. “If they didn’t see each other, they were on the phone with him and talking and going on, and always somewhere trying to rap,” she added.

Foster, and his stepfather Freddy Young, remember seeing him the day of the shooting. “BJ walked out the door. He told me, mama I’m gone. I’ll see you either Tuesday or Wednesday. And I told BJ I said, okay, BJ, call me if you need me,” Foster recalled. “I said, make sure you watch your surroundings,” she added.

On April 3, McCormick police responded to a dispute at Gold Hill Mobile Home Park. “If he knew something was going to happen, he’d made a phone call for somebody to come and get him,” she said.

A call came in. “As my phone kept ringing, I started feeling scared like something had happened, but I didn’t know what it was,” she added. “It hurt us. I will never forget that phone call. I will never forget this phone call,” Young added. It ended up being from his best friend.

He was shot once and taken to a hospital. “I didn’t know if I was gonna lose my son or was it that serious or if BJ was gonna be all right. I didn’t know at the time,” Foster said.

He later died. An autopsy revealed he was shot once in the head. Police don’t think the shooting was random. “If you’d rather not snitch to get justice for BJ, then something wrong with them,” she added. “Once they find you, once they find you, we’ll shoot for a life sentence,” Young added.

Put Down the Guns Now Young People organized a vigil in his hometown of Greenwood. The group travels the state when shootings happen. Founder Jack Logan says there’s an increase in gun violence in rural areas. “There’s nothing for people to do to attract them with something more positive, constructive, positive, you know, something to do,” he shared. “You got family members who can be jealous of you and set you up to be hurt or fired from jobs because they want to see you down,” he added.

Meanwhile, no arrests have been made for Watson’s death. “We are not sleeping. And we know the one that did it, not sleeping,” Foster said.

Authorities say they have people of interest. “It was involving setting him up, I want them locked up, too. I want justice for my son. And I’m not gonna stop. BJ knows how his mama was,” Foster said.