‘I’m trying to smile through the tears,’ mom of Ronnie Bowers says, 7 years after his death

KETTERING — Family members and friends gathered at Oak Park in Kettering on Thursday evening to remember Ronnie Bowers, the 16-year-old Kettering Fairmont High School student shot to death seven years ago after leaving AlterFest.

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“I don’t cry every day now, but just about every day still,” Ronnie’s mother, Jessica Combs, told News Center 7 Reporter Brandon Lewis.

“I’m trying to smile through the tears,” she said. “I’m not sure I’ve got there yet. You’re not supposed to bury your 16-year-old.”

Bowers was driving friends home from the festival in Kettering the night of Sept. 4, 2016, when he was hit in the back of the head by gunfire aimed at a group of people who had gotten into a fight with another group of people. Kylen Gregory, then 16 and who fired that shot, is still in prison serving what’s left of an 11-year sentence. He is expected to be released or at least be parole eligible in early September 2027, according to Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction records.

Miles Heizer, then 18, was driving the other car that night. He was sentenced to 24 months in prison.

Combs has no doubt Ronnie did the right thing that night -- the first night he had ever gone anywhere.

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He saved the three other kids in that car that night, she said. He tried to de-escalate the situation. He donated organs.

“He was just an all-around great kid,” Combs said. “He was just a really, really nice kid. Everybody liked him.”

Richard Glover, Ronnie’s grandfather, joined Combs in relating that the family, friends and anyone else who wants to remember Ronnie has always gathered at Oak Park. It is the place where Ronnie and his brother would play on the swings and engage in games of midnight tag.

Glover said he finds it difficult to believe that seven years have passed since Ronnie’s untimely demise.

But Glover and Combs vowed they will fight through the disbelief and the tears to celebrate Ronnie’s life through a candle vigil every year around “Labor Day -- the week,” as she refers to the last days of her son’s life. He was shot Sept. 4. He spent five days in a hospital, with her at his bedside. His funeral was Sept. 11, 2016.

Her message: “Stop the gun violence. It destroys families. It destroys people. Be kind to people. It’s not that hard.”

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