KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Laurie Bey said her son's death "just did not have to be."
Bey spoke outside the downtown Jackson County courthouse after a judge returned a guilty verdict in the trial of KCPD Det. Eric DeValkenaere.
DeValkenaere was convicted of second-degree manslaughter and armed criminal action in the Dec. 3, 2019, shooting death of Bey's son, Cameron Lamb.
"It's very overwhelming. I am happy that the judge saw fit, and he followed the law, but I miss my baby, and this just did not have to be. It did not have to be," Bey said.
She remembered her son, her "everything," as someone who would help anyone who needed it.
"He was very needed, not only his family, but to the community," she said.
Bey talked about Lamb's willingness to help everyone, from stalled motorists to family members moving places.
She said he was not only needed as a son but as a father.
“June 14th, 1993, I gave birth to Cameron Darnell Lamb. Not one time during my nine months of pregnancy with him did I ever believe I was having a girl," Bey said. "I already have two daughters. I knew that he was my son, and he was who I prayed for. I am so sad that he is not here with his sons today because he was very important to them. He was crazy about his boys.”
Bey shared Lamb also had aspirations to grow his business, Cam's Gifted Hands.
Family attorney Lee Merritt said justice doesn't stop with Friday's guilty verdict.
“This family doesn’t see this as a stopping point, but an exclamation point to their federal civil rights claim that we will continue to pursue against the Kansas City Police Department," Merritt said.
KCPD said it "acknowledges" the Jackson County court's decision.
Bey said the victory in court doesn't fill the void of losing her son.
“This has not been easy for me because I go to sleep, he’s there. I wake up, he’s there. So he’s been all over me,” Bey said.
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