As the funeral home van slowly drove away, a Selma mother could hardly be consoled as it was her son whose body was lying in the back, the victim of an afternoon shooting in the Sunshine Village neighborhood of Sardis.

The body of 22-year-old Demetrias Johnson is now in the hands of investigators at the Alabama State Forensics Lab in Montgomery after his body was found in a cotton field off of Dallas County Road 469.

According to Dallas County Sheriff Harris Huffman, who said investigators do not have many details on the shooting and murder yet, Johnson suffered a gunshot wound — or wounds — to the right face and shoulder area.

“Right now, we have to wait for the initial report from the forensics lab to give us an idea of what kind of weapon we need to be looking for,” Huffman said.