CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – As the sun set on Thursday, the hustle and bustle of Clarksville traffic moved along as normal. But for one family, their journey was anything but normal as they prepared to leave a city that was an aching reminder of the day they lost a beloved son, brother and cousin.
On the night of Feb. 22, 2020, police responded to a shots fired call on Cranklen Circle near the Clarksville Regional Airport. Responders arrived to find Malik Madison, 19, gravely injured. He was rushed to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and six days later, on Feb. 28, Madison died from his injuries. During the investigation, police arrested half brothers KyJuan Fuller, then 16, and Jakarius Medley, 18 at the time.
Both were charged with first-degree murder and related charges. On Wednesday, a jury found them guilty of voluntary manslaughter and other lesser charges. The verdict, however, brought little peace to Malik Madison’s family.
‘Bacon king’ and class clown
Madison’s mother, Sebnem Broaden, told Clarksville Now her son was like no other. If he was ever in a bad mood, nobody would be able to tell. He lived to make people happy.
Madison, like his mother, was born and raised in Germany before moving to the United States in 2012. Broaden said he was the kind of kid that was never seen without a smile on his face or a joke out of his mouth.
“He was always a funny boy that always trying to make everybody laugh,” Broaden said. “Like when you were in school and were trying to be the class clown? That was Malik.”
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Broaden recalled Mother’s Day 2018 when she asked if Madison was going to make her breakfast.
“He was known for his bacon,” Broaden laughed. “He swore up and down his bacon was the best and he was the bacon king.”
When she asked if he was going to make her breakfast for Mother’s Day, her son responded with a coy, “What? Mom, you know we’ve got cereal!”
Memories of her son are everywhere, from heartfelt Facebook posts to little trinkets Madison gifted her over the years.
Week away from his family
It’s been almost five years since Broaden and her family left the Fort Campbell area. That was in 2019, and Madison had already turned 18. She gave him the option to come with them or stay. Her son decided to stay, and she and her family left for Germany in February 2019. Several months later, in June 2019, Madison decided to join his family in Germany, but he left only a month later.
In January 2020, Madison told his mom he wanted to come back and was going to save up to buy a plane ticket to Germany. A little less than a month later, only a week before the crime, Madison was on the phone with his mom and told her he always wanted to go to Florida.
“I promised him, I said, ‘Whenever you come to Germany, we’ll go ahead and save up and we’ll move to Florida,'” Broaden recalled. “I let him know that we weren’t going to stay in Germany forever, and one day we’ll make it to Florida. … After he got killed and we went back to Germany, I made it a point to honor his last wish and move to Florida. I’m a momma of my word.”
When Broaden and her family arrived back in the States after the shooting, Madison’s friends told her he had been getting ready to fly out to Germany that same week.
‘They needed to be on the stand, too’
A consistent thread in the trial was the mention of “Jack Jack” and his girlfriend, who appeared to be at the center of the tragedy after lying to the defendants about meeting up. According to court testimony, the brothers had been looking to shoot Jack-Jack, but they were misdirected to another location and shot the wrong person.
Broaden said that back in 2020, during her son’s funeral, the couple showed up to pay their respects. According to Broaden, she didn’t know or recognize them when they came up to her, hugged her and apologized. When they walked away, Broaden was hit with a bombshell.
“Everybody came to me and was like, ‘Do you know who that is?'” Broaden said. “Then everybody was like, ‘That’s Jack-Jack! He’s the reason!'” Broaden said she managed to keep the peace for her son’s funeral, and the couple eventually left. That was the first and last time she saw them.
She said Medley’s attorney, Stephanie Ritchie Mize, was right: “They needed to be sitting on that stand, too,” Broaden said. “They’re cowards. That would have been the right thing to do, to come to the trial and sit on that stand.”
Forgiveness and advice
When the jury returned with their verdicts on Wednesday, Broaden said she felt like she was reliving her son’s killing all over again.
The defendants, charged with first-degree murder of Madison, were found guilty of the lesser included charge of voluntary manslaughter. Of the seven charges each defendant faced, they were found guilty of four lesser charges, not guilty of one, and guilty as charged for two.
After court, Broaden’s 11-year-old daughter, came to her with a question: “Momma, have you forgiven everyone who did you wrong?”
“I looked at her and I said, ‘No, not the boys (Fuller and Medley) that took Malik away,'” Broaden said.
“But Mom, you do know if you don’t forgive them, your sins aren’t going to be forgiven?” her daughter said. “And when we’re in a new world, we’ll get to see Malik again.”
Broaden, a spiritual woman, realized her daughter made a point. “I’m not forgiving them for what they did,” Broaden told Clarksville Now. “I’m forgiving them for me.”
When asked if there was any advice she could give to the families of loved ones lost to homicide, Broaden said, “Don’t go seeking revenge. Don’t try to get an eye for an eye.” She advised that if those families are spiritual, pray and talk to God and ask for advice, and don’t be afraid to seek counseling.
“Keep your kids close,” she said.
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