MILWAUKEE — A Milwaukee family is outraged after a woman charged with killing their son was set free for only $1,000.
The family of Montrell Marks gathered to release balloons for what should have been his 23rd birthday.
"I never missed a birthday until today," said Marks; mother Sabrina Davis. "It's because somebody took that choice out of our hands."
On February 15, the day after Valentine's Day, Marks' mom says she drove him to pick up his baby from its mother, Shasta Flowers.
"I hear a pop go off," she said. So I start running towards the house. I hear, 'She shot him,' I see him laying on the floor, blood everywhere."
Court records say Flowers told police she shot Marks after they got into an argument. She said they were fighting and it became physical.
"She left the room and got a gun from her purse," and when Marks moved back towards her, "she raised the gun, pointing it at him, and the gun went off by accident."
"She said, 'I shot him, I shot him. I'm sorry, I shot him,'" said Davis.
Davis said she watched Flowers get arrested, then charged with second degree reckless homicide. But the next shock for Marks' family came when they heard the judge grant Flowers a $1,000 cash bond.
"It hurts," said Marks' father Howard Campbell. "The sad part is she came into court smiling as if this is not real, as if she did not just commit the murder. So one of the things that upset us is she is out. My son is passed away and she is out free."
The Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office did not comment specifically about Flowers' case but they say many factors are taken into consideration when bond is set including lack of a criminal records and whether someone is a flight risk. Flowers was eight months pregnant at the time of the murder.
