Grieving mom speaks after 15-year-old son killed at Sumter County sleepover
WILDWOOD, Fla. - Diana Wagner is still processing the loss of her teenage son, Connor Gill.
"I never thought in a million years I’d bury my child," she said. He was killed Saturday in Wildwood.
It’s been a few days now since deputies said he was fatally stabbed by another teenager in an attack, but the family says they’ll be feeling the pain of it for a lifetime.
"There's times where I'm alone with my thoughts, and I just break down," Wagner said.
Connor had just turned 15 a couple of weeks ago. He hung out with his mom in Jacksonville for Mother’s Day and stayed there for his birthday and Memorial Day. They went to a water park, and Wagner says now she’s glad to have made those happy memories.
Last Saturday, the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office said the 16-year-old ex-boyfriend of one of Connor’s family members murdered the young man and slashed Connor’s dad in the chest. Deputies caught the accused teenage murderer a couple of hours later.
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Connor’s mom got the call that night.
"It took me a moment to realize what he was saying to me," said Wagner.
Wagner says her son was a good kid and a typical teenager. He loved video games and Transformers and thought about being an engineer or maybe joining the military. He was so young he hadn’t had to figure that out yet.
"It's been tough all around as a family," Wagner said. "We've all been hurting very badly."
Wagner says Connor’s dad is also devastated. He’s still in the hospital but is healing up, though with a guarantee any physical scars won’t be the deepest ones.
"He's telling me, ‘I'm sorry,’" Wagner said. "And I'm just like, ‘It's nobody's fault but that person's fault.’ And he's beside himself. He's so torn up."
The teenager accused in this attack is facing charges of premeditated murder, assault with a deadly weapon, and armed burglary.