Almost 12 years after her daughter was murdered, a Toronto mother is fighting to keep the teen's dying promise by trying to prevent the killer from being released from prison.
Tracy Christie is planning a massive rally outside a Kingston prison on Dec. 4 to demand Junior Johnson not be granted parole.
Johnson was 17 years old when he fatally shot 16-year-old Christie Christie inside her Scarborough home in January 1996.
Johnson and two other youths entered the apartment and robbed it. During the act, the girl was shot in the stomach with a shotgun. She died several hours later, but not before speaking to her mother.
"She told me how much she loved me, what a good mom I was, she asked if her brother was alive, and she made me promise her that I would please just make sure they all stayed in jail and not hurt anyone else," Christie told reporters at a press conference on Wednesday.
"That was the last thing she got to say to me, so I just can't stop, I can't stop."
Johnson was convicted of first-degree murder in 1998 and received a life term with no eligibility for parole for 10 years.
He was denied parole in his first attempt two years ago. Parole board members said Johnson showed no remorse for his killing.
Victims United for Change, an organization that is helping Christie stage the rally, says more than 600 people have signed up to picket outside the Kingston prison next month.
Christie has also turned to the popular social networking website Facebook for support.
As for the other boys charged in the murder, the 17-year-old who is believed to have supplied the gun was sentenced to seven years in prison. Earlier this month, he was charged with first-degree murder in the killing of a Mohawk College student outside a Hamilton bar.
A 13-year-old boy who acted as a decoy pleaded guilty to manslaughter and received a three-year term. He is reportedly married now with two kids.
With a report from CTV's Austin Delaney
