It's been almost a year since 20-year-old Robert Wright-Day was stabbed to death outside an apartment complex in Leominster, Massachusetts.
Three people were later charged in connection with the tragedy.
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Now, the family has come forward demanding justice and filing a lawsuit on behalf of their loved one's estate.
The lawsuit names the apartment complex and the property management and security companies. The Boston-based lawyers and Wright-Day's mother allege they hold responsibility in the fatal stabbing.
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"He wanted to be a barber, he wanted to go into the military. The week before, he was trying to get me to take him down to the recruiter’s office, but every time we went, they were closed. So, we couldn’t get in," said Stacey Houston, Wright-Day's mother.
Those are now dreams that Houston says she'll never see her son accomplish.
Wright-Day was stabbed in the early-morning hours of May 7, 2024, outside of the Riverside Village Apartments during what police said was a car meetup party that escalated into a large gathering.
His father said Wright-Day was a loving uncle and valued his family.
“The saddest thing is that at his funeral, my grandson said to me, when I was holding him… 'Grandpa, put your cross on his chest, he’ll come back to life,'" Delmahr Wright said. "I told him, 'I wish it was that easy, but it’s not.'”
And while three people were later arrested and charged in connection with the tragedy, the family believes others hold responsibility too.
The family's attorneys allege that the Riverside Village Apartments have a history of resident complaints about youths gathering on their property that led the complex's management company to hire private security.
John McCarthy, of Michael Kelly Injury Lawyers, the lead attorney on the case, said Archer Security was contracted to be present, but based on their investigation they did not show up that day.
“They could’ve gotten my child help faster instead of him bleeding to death out there, and basically that’s what happened," Houston said.
Now, the family is seeking to recover damages, in part related to medical bills and funeral and burial expenses.
But Wright-Day's mother said no amount of money will bring her son back.
"We’re missing out on our son being everything he could've been in life," she said. "We don’t know what he could’ve been, but we know he would’ve been something great.”
NBC10 Boston reached out to the defendants and only the apartment management company responded, saying in part that they are "deeply saddened by this tragic loss as a result of senseless violence," and that the incident remains under review internally with the help of security professionals to identify any modifications that need to be made.
