UPDATE: Family, friends react to double homicide in Toone

HARDEMAN COUNTY, Tenn. — An unthinkable loss. “He was his mother’s pride and joy.”

A 13-year-old and his 38-year-old dad were found shot to death Friday in their home on Naylor Road in Toone.

Authorities say Joe Robertson and his son, Javarrie Robertson, were fatally shot around 7:30 Friday morning.

“It’s going to be a rough few days for this family and the friends,” TBI spokesman Josh DeVine said.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is urging anyone with information to come forward.

“We don’t have anyone in custody. We have not firmed up any suspect description. We would urge anyone in the public with specific information that might help, even if it seems insignificant in your mind, it might be significant to us,” DeVine said.

Also in the home at the time of the homicides were Robertson’s 5-year-old and newborn daughters. They were not injured.

“My first response was ‘no.'” Joe’s aunt Adrienne Jones says the family is trying to understand how this could happen.

“He’s an innocent child, and I know God allows things for reasons, but the flesh part of me says he had so much more to give us,” Jones said.

Jones says Javarrie, also known as “JoeJoe,” was an honor roll student who loved his family. “Joejoe was close to his dad and his mom, and especially his mom because he’s a momma’s boy.”

Grief counselors were on hand at Toone Elementary School, but a lot of parents chose to come and pick up their kids themselves.

“They called and let us know some kids weren’t handling it well,” Cory Vann said, including his daughter, a classmate of JoeJoe’s who said she’s going to miss him.

“Basketball, the band and seeing him in the hallway every day.”

And she’s not the only one.

“We’ll miss both of them because they both had so much to give.”

If you have information that could help in this investigation, call the TBI hotline at 1-800-TBI-find.