(Story by Sara Wagner)
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WHAS11) – Metro police are urging anyone with information to come forward after a mother was shot and killed in front of her 8-year-old son on Mother’s Day morning. The coroner confirmed Sunday evening Angelina Pressley, 27, died from multiple gunshot wounds.
Police were called to the Cooper Creek Apartments in Okolona on a report of shots fired just before 3 a.m. Sunday. They found Pressley dead outside one of the buildings in the 4900 block of Creek Pointe Terrace.
No arrests have been made, and police said there are no suspects. However, the department has released specific details about the investigation in an effort to solve this case. Sunday evening, Detective Todd Kessinger with the LMPD Homicide Unit talked about the heartbreaking interview detectives had with Pressley’s son.
“He made the comment that his favorite thing in the world to do was to spend time with his mother and he was exceptionally excited that night because he had bought her a necklace that he planned to give her on Mother’s Day. Unfortunately, somebody came and shot her right in front of him and he never had the opportunity to give her that necklace,” Detective Kessinger said. “A lot of times, we don’t release a lot of information on murder cases. We certainly don’t release details as to what witnesses said, but in a situation like this, I think people need to hear what the 8-year-old boy was telling us. Maybe that will put somebody who might have information whose on the fence of whether or not they want to call us, maybe that will put them over the edge to where they do make that phone call.”
The tragic crime has left many neighbors asking why and how this could possibly happen, especially on this holiday.
“It saddens me now that some child is going to be motherless because somebody was upset about who knows what. It had to be so insignificant, especially with it being Mother’s Day. How do you shoot somebody on Mother’s Day?” neighbor Wilma Chaddic said.
“It should never happen, but especially on Mother’s Day. I know her son, and just to see that kid have to watch his mother get shot like that, he’ll never forget that the rest of his life,” neighbor Matt Shaw said.
Shaw said his daughter and Pressley’s son often play together. He described Pressley as very friendly and kind, still in such disbelief that she’s gone.
“I heard two gun shots go off, so I was pretty much one of the first people on the scene here,” Shaw said. “I will never forget this, no. Just having to look down and see her laying there, knowing there is nothing you can do is a really hard feeling.”
Shock and sadness were two emotions echoed across the apartment complex Sunday. Neighbor Amanda said it’s been incredibly difficult.
“It was scary. It was awful. It was terrible,” Amanda said. “I was supposed to go to work in the morning, but I didn’t. How can you go to work after seeing something like that, that’s so traumatic?”
Several neighbors told WHAS11 that workers from the apartment complex came around to talk to them earlier Sunday afternoon. They were told management is planning to send out a letter to everyone who lives there sometime Monday. A memorial has also been set up at the complex where Pressley was found.
Anyone with information on this case is asked to call 574-LMPD.