Shanquella Robinson’s mother, Salamondra Robinson, has opened up even more about the days following her daughter’s passing. As previously reported by REVOLT, Shanquella died while on a trip with six other people in Mexico in October. Her death was initially attributed to alcohol poisoning, but it was later revealed she suffered serious injuries after a brutal attack that was caught on camera.
“That was a terrible way for her to die,” Salamondra said in a Dec. 8 interview with ABC News. She recalled a male friend of Shanquella’s calling her and telling her that the 25-year-old was sick but that things soon took a grim turn. “He wasn’t even emotional, upset, or nothing about it… My heart just crumbled ‘cause I couldn’t even get to my child,” she said.
Days later, she received another phone call. “I didn’t even know who it was, and they said that they [were] over there fighting [Shanquella]. And that’s the way they left it, just like that.” The grieving mother said that when her daughter’s so-called friends returned to Charlotte, North Carolina, they paid her a visit; that’s when she confronted them about the fight. “They [were] crying and said they never had a fight. They even [sat] here and said what they [were] picking out and wearing to the funeral.”
The aspiring entrepreneur was laid to rest in her hometown on Nov. 19. Hundreds of people gathered along the streets of Charlotte and outside of Macedonia Baptist Church to say their goodbyes and stand in solidarity with her family.
When Salamondra learned about the updated autopsy results that stated Shanquella suffered a severe spinal cord injury and dislocated neck, she said “it all made sense.” Now more informed about the moments that led up to her daughter’s death, Salamondra decided to speak with the male friend again, probing for answers. “He broke out in a sweat, and he came out [of] his shirt. He was sweating [badly], it’s like it was eating him up,” she recounted.
Shanquella’s father, Bernard Robinson, added: “All six of them had an opportunity to stop that situation. Neither one of them did nothing about it. Who gave them [the] right to take a life? They ain’t give her no kind of care, no help. I can just feel her suffering. The last breath she took out her body.”
Last month, Daniel de la Rosa Anaya, a Baja California Sur prosecutor, confirmed an arrest warrant has been issued. “The main person responsible for these acts is a female friend who is the aggressor in this case,” he told BCS Noticias. “In reality, it wasn’t a fight. It was a direct attack.” The individual’s identity has not been made public by authorities, and she has yet to be extradited back to Mexico.
Watch Salamondra Robinson’s interview below.