MACON, Ga. — A Macon grandmother is still begging for answers nearly a year after her grandson was gunned down on Ibex Street last May.
Debbie Clark says her grandson, Ormondo Cortez Clark, always wanted the best for his friends and family. She's channeling that spirit to make sure others don't experience the same loss.
"My boss said, 'Please go home. We've got a busy day tomorrow. Please go home,' and he went to play cards instead," Stacy Johnson remembered.
Johnson was one of Clark's coworkers at Glass Wholesalers of Macon. Hours after he left work May 16, 2022, someone shot and killed him on Ibex Street.
"I just kind of just sat there trying to see if it was real. Then it hit me, and I kind of went to pieces," Debbie Clark said.
Almost a year later, she says she still has no answers; but she knows one thing.
"The detective said nobody has said not one bad word to say about him," she said.
Tez Clark, as people close to him called him, had a lot of friends and family. Since his death, they've started holding anti-violence rallies, using the phrase 'Tez World' to spread the word.
"Tez... World... and we're all just living in it," Debbie Clark explained.
Through friendship, and Central Georgia connections, Tez World already spread as far as Fayetteville, North Carolina.
"When Tez was murdered, it touched everybody, especially with the travesty of it," said Nikki Dixon, a family friend and candymaker who now lives there.
Dixon owns Bay's Sweets and Treats in Fayetteville. She dedicates candy apple sales at her store to Tez Clark's memory, and Debbie Clark's fight to end violence.
"It doesn't get enough recognition or support, so that's where I want to come in and use my business, my talent," Dixon said.
She's using her talent so other grandmothers don't have to experience what Debbie Clark has.
"I realize what their grandmothers are feeling, and their mothers, their sisters, their brothers. It's not a good feeling," Debbie Clark said.
The Clark family plans a memorial and anti-violence rally tomorrow night in Tez Clark's memory. That's at Peach Orchard Park in Lynmore Estates at 6 p.m.
If you have any information on Clark's case, call Macon Regional Crimestoppers at 1 (877) 68-CRIME.
While nobody's been charged with killing Clark, the Bibb County Sheriff's Office says his death illustrates a troubling pattern. Thursday at 11 p.m. for 13 Investigates, Ashlyn Webb explains and breaks down three connected cases.