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When their son was killed in 2017, there were no arrests. Now, they're hoping newly released details will change that

Ruben and Oletia Parker, the parents of 24-year-old Ju'an Parker, remember their son and the night he was murdered.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — In 2017, a 24-year-old man was shot and killed in the Parkway neighborhood of South Sacramento. 

The Sacramento County Sheriff's Office released traffic camera footage Monday showing a vehicle that investigators believe may have been driven by the suspect. That video shows a dark colored sedan stopped at a red light at the intersection of Florin Road and East Parkway. Moments later, the victim's red sedan drives through the intersection.

ABC10's Mike Duffy sat down to speak with Ruben Parker and Oletia Parker, the parents of the victim, Ju'an Parker, about what it was like for them to lose their son. The interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

Mike Duffy: I really want you to take me back to the summer of 2017 when this happened. When you first got the news, what went on in your mind?

Ruben Parker: Well, we were located in Redding, California. That was where I was when I read the news at the present time, and you know, we get a call, which was a Monday, and that my son was involved in a shooting somewhere. We immediately got in the car, headed down to Sacramento, and my son calls, and when we call, he calls right back, and we could not communicate with him.

We were on our way. We called and called and, as a parent, I got an intuition. I just felt my son was gone. We get here, it is what it is at the time. It was a bad night. I would never forget it. It haunts me to this day knowing I couldn’t get to my baby. I tried, and I couldn’t get to him.

RELATED: Sacramento sheriff releases video of suspect vehicle from 2017 deadly shooting

Duffy: Can you take me through what that feels like emotionally? What goes through your head?

Ruben Parker: Well, it takes everything out of you. You know, it’s about going on and living. I feel it in my heart, the love I feel for my other children and grandkids and my wife, you know, keeps me pretty well-grounded, you know, to get up and to continue. You know, if there is nothing else, to just basically live. The basics.

I don’t taste anything anymore. My baby’s gone, man. It’s apart of my life for the rest of my life. It’s depressing that another human being will go out there and just take another life for no apparent reason. No reason, man. I may also say, you know, I feel it in my heart if you live by the sword you die by it. You know, my son was not affiliated with all that negativity that is going on in the street or our community. I said I feel it was the wrong place at the wrong time.

Duffy: When all this happened, what was the first reaction you had as a parent?

Ruben Parker: My first reaction was, 'I hoped my son was alive.' As a parent, you know, we observe them growing up. We are not around them 24/7, but we prayed in our hearts that nothing ever happened to them, even though they’re grown.

I find myself, I am pretty humble now. I could only accept what goes on in our lives, in the world. Man, it’s bad out here, and I feel that my son did not deserve this. He was a super kid. I wouldn't say it if it wasn't so. I wouldn’t do it, man. It’s heartbreaking.

We think about him on a daily basis. It’s not going anywhere. My baby, I don’t know what another feels about their baby. I know what I feel about mine. We as parents, we don’t know what it is until you become a parent.

I have been in contact with the sheriff department which was in their district. I communicate at least once or twice a month. I have been informed of certain information about the case. Vehicles, ballistics, they have presented it to the district attorney once or twice. They were told they need more information, and I feel if they don’t have enough information, they wouldn’t have presented it at all.

So I see, me and my family in the blue and I think the sheriff department did a pretty damn good job investigating this, and for us not to have closure due to I don’t know what is going with the district attorney,  I would say that is a technicality going within the system.

I feel we are close and I think there are people out there that know something. I could only pray to God that someone will be able to step up and be man or woman enough just to go to the proper authorities and let us get this behind us. I’m pretty sure there are a few unsolved cases going on.

These need to be taken care of, you know what I’m saying? I feel it takes a lot from the public for some of these crimes to be solved, but we are just living in that time right now. You know, people don’t want to talk.

Duffy: They did release some vehicle information, and I hadn’t seen that before. Maybe you knew about it, but maybe the public wasn’t aware of that information. You did touch upon this, but I wanted to ask you again, what would you like from the viewing audience?

Ruben Parker: Basically, I would like them to know that my son is very worthy of justice. He did no harm to anyone. If you loved yours like I loved mine, I just ask you to just make a sacrifice. Me and my wife, my daughter, my family we would appreciate it so much. And like I said, whoever did this to my son, I want justice.

I just ask, if you know anything, please from the bottom of my heart, that someone will come forward. It’s not too late. You don’t have a conscience. It could be you one day in this situation, with your children or your child.

Oletia Parker: It will never be an end for me, but I do want justice for my child. He didn’t deserve this and if you got all this information and you just waiting on one piece of paper, that’s not fair. In the meantime, they are out there committing other crimes. I never wanted to be here doing this. My child was a good child. There is a lot of good ones out there but we’re losing them. This could be stopped. It needs to be stopped. In the meantime, I want justice for mine. It’s all I want. I wanted to shuffle up more papers, then go get them, that’s all.

Duffy: Are you frustrated with the speed this is moving?

Oletia Parker: Well, I am, but then again this is new to me. I really don’t know how it goes, but I am patient because I want it done right. I don’t want any flaws, nobody getting off on technicalities or nothing else. I want it done right the first time.

Ruben Parker: We would also when they get to that point, we will be there 100 percent in support of our son. It is what it is.

Oletia Parker: Day and night, middle of the day, middle of the night, I hurt. When you go to sleep, wishing it was a dream, but you wake up, it's reality. It’s not nice.

Ruben Parker: We don’t want much. We don’t want any money. All we want is justice. We want to know who did this to my son, that’s all. We will go on and try to live and do the best we can. We are here today, gone tomorrow. It is what it is.

This is going on throughout America. We have allowed this to happen. Sometimes I think, you know, we are paying the piper for some of the mistakes we made in the '80s. Hey, drugs hit hard in our community, man. We didn’t ask for that. We didn’t know the repercussion for that.

We need to go into our communities to let these young kids know they are loved and there is nothing wrong with us apologizing to our babies. We need to apologize. We didn’t know. If they get this from the interview, on the TV, later on, I would be the first to tell y’all we as parents we apologize. We love you all.

We want you to do better. We want you all to be able to speak for us as we get older. We need representation. So please, let’s get this right. It could be done.

Duffy: Can you tell me about your son? I would love you to tell me what kind of person he was.

Oletia Parker: He was spectacular, not only because he was my mine. He was a truly a gifted guy, he really was. He helped in his community. He helped all the way around. He did a lot for the youth. He was just a good kid going through. My baby had great distance, and he would have done, but if it wasn’t for that.

He was on his way to the University of Maine. He had a scholarship to play basketball. That was one of his dreams. He went to Contra Costa Junior College. He coached (Amateur Athletic Union) AAU basketball for the youth. He had maybe a month or two before he got out of here. It didn’t happen.

Duffy: A lot of times when something like this happens, people will say he must have been involved in something. I know you touched upon this, but I want to ask you again, what would you say to people who would say something like that?

Ruben Parker: He was young, and you know, he made mistakes. He was human, but he had a father in his life, which was me. From day one, I had never left my kid for anything in the world. I had no problem correcting my children, keep them focused. Let them know there is a right and there is a wrong. There is no in-between about anything.

As I said, he made a couple of mistakes, but we always talked. I never sugarcoat it when we spoke. And as I said, he was a good kid. As a man, he was a better man. He was growing up. He was on the line to go through things, good things. Hopefully great things in his life, you know, but as I said, wasn’t given the opportunity.

Bottom line, I know one thing I could say, he did no harm to anyone. He loved people. He is missed. The people who knew my son, he is missed, especially by his family. I saw Ju'an a week before he passed. I met him at the gas station at Redding. He said, 'Dad, I’m on my way to see you.' That was the last time I saw him. Not knowing. He was mine. He was hers. He was his sister. I miss my baby.

Duffy: Was he targeted? Do you have any suspicions?

Ruben Parker: I can’t really say, but I spoke to the detectives and they informed us that Ju'an was not affiliated to gangs. He was not affiliated with drugs. He was working. He had childhood friends, which I found to be very loyal to his friends. Matter of fact, a friend called him to give him a ride. He was at home in bed. He got out of his bed to take a friend to bring him somewhere and this is where it all began and ended, which you will never know what was his friend was into.

Hopefully, that friend got out of his car. Hopefully, no one got into my son’s and was out there doing stupid things and someone observed his vehicle driving in the southside of Sacramento and you know, hey, it went down. I pray to God it didn’t happen. Like I said, I want to know. I want closure and in time they will get it all. I pray to God we do get to resolve all of this from the media aspect, the sheriff aspect, it will be over for you all, but we live with this. It’s going nowhere.

Duffy: Is there anything you wanted to say that I didn’t ask about? Anything that will be helpful to the public?

Oletia Parker: If the public would come to speak and let someone know what they know, it will be really helpful. I know somebody knows something, but they got to speak, got to let it out, got to let it be known. That’s all I ask. If you really loved Ju'an, speak up, because he would.

Continue the conversation with Mike on Facebook.

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