
It was just after the back-to-back fatal shooting deaths by police of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile in 2016 that Vanessa McCullers realized her then-18-year-old son began refusing to leave the house.
Journalist

The only image I had of my half sister growing up was the photo of a girl about 8, standing in a backyard plastic pool with one hand on her hip, her head cocked to the side. Her hair was pulled into a high side-ponytail with a fat braid. She had on a blue-and-white polka-dot bathing suit with white frills around the collar, and a huge smile on her face.