{"id":237664,"date":"2026-05-20T03:19:38","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T03:19:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/237664\/"},"modified":"2026-05-20T03:19:38","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T03:19:38","slug":"news-12-bronx-mother-demands-answers-after-neighbor-accused-of-killing-her-son-is-released","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/237664\/","title":{"rendered":"News 12 | Bronx | Mother Demands Answers After Neighbor Accused Of Killing Her Son Is Released"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-rich-text-paragraph=\"true\">A Bronx mother is pleading for justice after the man accused of killing her 21\u2011year\u2011old son was released from custody with only an ankle monitor, a decision she says has left her devastated and afraid.<\/p>\n<p data-rich-text-paragraph=\"true\">Melinda Barnwell says photos and memories are now all she has left of her son, Justin Barnwell, who she describes as someone who \u201ccould light up a room.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-rich-text-paragraph=\"true\">Justin Barnwell was shot and killed in April inside River Park Towers, allegedly by his <a data-rich-text-hyperlink=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/bronx.news12.com\/2-bronx-shootings-within-an-hour-leave-2-young-men-dead-76-year-old-charged-in-one-case\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">76\u2011year\u2011old neighbor, Gilbert Smalls, after what police say was a dispute over loud music.<\/a><\/p>\n<p data-rich-text-paragraph=\"true\">A mother of six, Melinda Barnwell says noise was a normal part of family life, but nothing that could justify what happened. <\/p>\n<p data-rich-text-paragraph=\"true\">According to the Bronx District Attorney\u2019s Office, Smalls\u2019 attorney filed a bail application in April. Prosecutors did not oppose the request, and the family was notified. On May 11, a judge approved Smalls\u2019 release with an ankle monitor.<\/p>\n<p data-rich-text-paragraph=\"true\">Melinda Barnwell says her son was just beginning his adult life and preparing to become a father. His girlfriend is pregnant with twins. <\/p>\n<p data-rich-text-paragraph=\"true\">Smalls is due back in court on Sept. 2.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Bronx mother is pleading for justice after the man accused of killing her 21\u2011year\u2011old son was released&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":237665,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,9,24,63,129,131,130],"class_list":["post-237664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-bronx","tag-bronx","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-the-bronx","tag-the-bronx-headlines","tag-the-bronx-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237664"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237664\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}