UNION CITY, Ga. — Police confirm to Channel 2 Action News that a man shot in his front yard Saturday afternoon has died.
Police say Michael Shane Black shot Benjamin Netherland, 43, multiple times and Netherlands' mother saw the whole thing.
Netherland died from his injuries and Black was arrested at his grandmother's house in Fairburn shortly after the shooting..
"I still don't know what was in the boy's mind," said Sandra Netherland, Benjamin's mother.
Netherland told Channel 2's Tyisha Fernandes that she watched Benjamin get shot several times by his childhood friend.
"They grew up together," Netherland said.
The shooting happened in her front yard. A neighbor says he saw Black pull up to the house on Raymond Terrace in Union City.
He says he heard Black call Ben on the phone and told him to come outside. Moments later he opened fire.
"When he got out his car, he just went pap, pap, pap, pap. So my first reaction … I took off running," said witness Gary Brett.
Other neighbors called 911.
Sandra Netherland said she begged the Black to stop shooting.
"He was still shooting and I was running toward the guy saying, 'Stop! Stop! Stop!' and he just looked at me."
The Netherland's pastor, John Mays, who is also the victim's cousin, says he was just with him in church.
"First time he had prayed in a long time, he had come down to the altar and gave his heart to the Lord this morning," Mays said.
And that's the only thing giving this family comfort at a time like this.
At last check, Black was still being processed by Fairburn police. He has been charged with murder.
WSBTV
