Yvonne Stewart sat in her car in a grocery store parking lot the other day, unable to enter the store, mourning the end of "the way it used to be."

Before her son, Anthony White, 16, was shot in the head Nov. 18 in a Gary parking lot, he used to eat food from this store. He used to play with his sister. He used to cut through the neighbor's yard when he missed the bus.

For those joys repossessed, Stewart wants a 15-year-old-boy jailed for as long as possible. She wants the boy suspected of the killing, Keon Moten, waived into adult court after a hearing Tuesday.

"He took his life. He can spend the rest of his life in jail," Stewart said.

But Stewart, of Merrillville, is finding confusion and uncertainty in a justice system that doesn't explain itself to the uninitiated. She fears most that the system will not vindicate Anthony. She fears he will be, as her sister Carolyn Cannon said, "another black kid who got killed."

"I hope that the justice system gives me justice, gives me peace," Stewart said.

A phone call summoned Stewart to Methodist Hospitals Northlake Campus in Gary at 12:40 a.m. Nov. 18, 20 minutes before Anthony's curfew. Stewart was sequestered alone in a room until her grandmother talked her way in, Stewart said. A chaplain appeared. A doctor entered. The doctor pointed to one side of his neck, then to a space next to his head, Stewart said. He spoke bluntly.

"He's shot here, brains out here," the doctor told Stewart, she said.

White died about 2:45 a.m.

On Nov. 17, Anthony -- a Merrillville High School junior described by classmates as a "ladies magnet" -- went to a high school basketball game with friends, Stewart said. Stewart said someone at the game announced an event later at The Flava, a nightclub on Broadway in Gary that hosts events open to people younger than 21. Club owners or managers could not be reached for comment on this story.

Police said a rivalry at the club led to a fight at a nearby gas station. One of Anthony's friends told Stewart that Anthony was talking on the phone with a girl when the fight erupted. The bullet hit him as he walked to a car, Stewart said. Bullets wounded at least three other people.

The bullet foreclosed on Anthony's plans to study business at Alabama State University. He was going to start driving after Christmas if he had a 3.0 grade point average.

Hundreds of people passed his open casket at Family Christian Center in Munster. Former Merrillville football hero and current New England Patriot Eugene Wilson sent a football signed with condolences.

Stewart went to Moten's initial hearing Dec. 4 at the Lake County Juvenile Justice Center in Crown Point. The brief, semi-audible proceedings illuminated little for attendees without law degrees. By the hearing's end, Stewart was unsure if Moten faced any charges.

"It didn't make sense to me," Stewart said.

Because Moten is a juvenile, he is not charged with a crime. He is being held as an alleged delinquent. The Lake County prosecutor's office has filed a motion to have him waived into adult court and charged with one count of murder, four counts of attempted murder and three counts of battery, said Diane Poulton, office spokeswoman.

A magistrate will decide after a hearing at 1 p.m. Tuesday whether Moten will be waived into adult court and charged. The magistrate must first decide whether there is probable cause a crime was committed and probable cause to charge Moten.

Gary police say Moten shot Anthony White, but White was not the target. Although neighbors reported gunshots of different volumes near the gas station at Broadway and 49th Avenue, officers found one caliber of shell casings, said Gary Detective James Gonzalez.

Moten was riding in a car when he was arrested, and an officer found a gun near Moten in the car, Gonzalez said. That gun fires the caliber of bullets that fit the casings found at the scene, Gonzalez said. County crime lab workers are investigating a possible forensic match between the gun and the bullets. No one else was arrested in the shooting or the fight.

Two eyewitnesses identified Moten as the shooter who killed White, Gonzalez said.

But lawyer T. Edward Page, hired by Moten's family, said the evidence leaves questions about who killed White.

"We believe there is a serious question as to probable cause," he said.

The decision on whether Moten will be tried as an adult is central to his fate. Juvenile justice systems seek to rehabilitate child offenders, while adult courts punish offenders, said Nicky Jackson, a criminal justice professor at Purdue University Calumet.

A magistrate considers a child suspect's family life and any prior record before waiving or not waiving the child, Jackson said. Moten has been arrested at least once, Poulton said.

A Gary detective voiced certainty Moten will be waived. Jackson said she thinks a 15-year-old boy in Moten's situation is likely to be waived into adult court.

"Every case is unique, but when you've got a kid who's got a prior record and takes a gun and points it at somebody ... ," she said.

Because of his age, Moten cannot be sentenced to life in prison or be put to death if he is convicted of an adult murder charge. But that charge could draw him a maximum of 65 years in prison. It is uncertain how much of any sentence he would serve if convicted.

Moten's father pulled Stewart aside before the Dec. 4 hearing and voiced condolences for Anthony's death. Moten's mother pulled her aside after the hearing.

The two women chatted for moments, a few feet from everyone else.

As she navigates the justice system, Stewart mourns her son. Stewart sometimes dreams of "the way it used to be." She is working on understanding the new truth. She repeats the facts to herself.

"You actually buried your son. You actually buried your son. You actually buried your son."