KANSAS CITY, Mo. — As charges were announced against a 22-year-old man in her son's murder, Charron Powell expressed gratitude for the local and federal forces that aided in the arrest, and she called on the Kansas City community to step up against violence.
Powell's 4-year-old son, LeGend Taliferro, was shot and killed while sleeping in his apartment in June. Thursday's charges against Ryson Ellis were welcome news after more than a month of investigation had turned up few leads.
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Powell said she is happy to finally get some justice for LeGend, though she knows it comes at a cost for another family, too.
“I’m so grateful that we are in the steps to justice. But, as a community, we also have to recognize that now it’s a young man that was 22 years old, now that he's incarcerated, due to an incident. So in reality, this is a lose situation for my family and including his," Powell said.
Ellis' arrest was made under Operation LeGend, a federal effort named after the Kansas City boy that aims to get violent offenders off the streets.
RELATED | National leaders praise charges in LeGend Taliferro case
Powell has previously voiced her family's support for the operation and urged her community to take an active part in violence prevention and show the nation “this is not what Kansas City is."
“As a community, I appreciate you guys for stepping up, but now we got to take it a step farther and help calm the violence down, and do what you guys did to help my case — let's do that for other cases, and to stop things like this from happening,” Powell said. “As a community, this should enlighten us that we have a problem in our city. And the only way we can solve it is coming together as a community so we won't be in these types of predicaments.”
Powell said she is thankful for every single person who called in a tip, went to the police station, or had their boots on the ground in an effort to solve her son's case.
“Without the community, it could have got swept under the rug like other murders that have, even though I know they work on them, but our community kind of gives up on them. I’m grateful that our community did not give up on this one," Powell said.
LeGend's mother said she tries to find the good in the bad.
“This is a rough day. It’s a good day. But it's still rough, just to imagine, to know, that I don’t have my son anymore to wake up at night, feel his presence or even hear his voice, is one of the hardest things for us," Powell said.
Thursday, she said she felt LeGend looking down.
“I wouldn’t be able to speak as like I am speaking without his presence," Powell said.
