VICTORIA, Miss. — A Marshall County mother wants answers after her son was gunned down overnight.

Authorities say Atha Falkner, 27, was found dead  at a Marathon gas station in Victoria, Mississippi. The coroner said he was shot to death around 1 a.m. Sunday.

“He was lying on the cold, wet ground, nothing over his face, no one trying to cover him up,” said his mother, Theresa Falkner. She said her son laid in the rain for hours in the parking lot.

She is convinced that he might’ve made it to see today if things were handled differently. This grieving mother says it feels like first responders took their time coming to help her son.

“I feel like they could’ve saved his life,” she said. “They could’ve tried.”

She says some deputies tried to save the father of two as other deputies left the family feeling intimidated as they patted their guns. Each time family tried to get close to the victim, Falkner claims paramedics showed up but that’s about it.

“Just let me see some kind of work they were doing,” she said. “They didn’t even do that.”

The family says the whole ordeal put a bad taste in their mouth.

“You were late getting here so how can you say that you have done the best that you can,” she said of first responders.

She said the victim felt helpless since they claim they were told they couldn’t pick the victim up and take him to the hospital themselves.

We’ve reached out to Marshall County Sheriff’s department we are still waiting to hear back.

Falkner is bitter about how her son’s murder is being handled and she’s hoping whoever killed him has the heart to come forward and help ease some of her pain.

“You know what you have done, please turn yourself in.”

The family thinks Falkner may have known his killer.

If you know anything about this crime, call Marshall County deputies.