CHARLOTTE — A 19-year-old is heading to prison for killing another 19-year-old, but the victim’s grandfather said no one won in court Tuesday. Joelle Clesca’s family is still grieving a loss they say will stay with them forever.
“Joelle meant the world to me,” said his grandfather, Kobie Emmanuel. “He turned my whole life around.”
The victim’s family was inside a Mecklenburg County courtroom as Clesca’s killer, Justin Jones, was sentenced to at least 13 years in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree murder as part of a plea deal.
“I still think that my grandson’s life was worth way more than that,” the grandfather said.
He forgives Jones.
“I can’t hate that guy,” said Emmanuel. “He’s a little, young kid. He’s the same age as my grandchild, so I had to forgive him in order to learn to live again.”
Clesca was shot and killed on Oct. 12, 2025, while inside a Wingstop along Beatties Ford Road.
Jones entered the restaurant wearing a mask, shot Joelle in the chest and ran out.
It was all over a disagreement that nobody knows the details of.
“Young kids running around wanting to be baddies and feel like, ‘I can knock you off. I get a body. That makes me grown,’” the grandfather sa...