'Jahmari Was The Life Of The Party': Vigil Held For Teen Killed In Shooting Outside Richfield School
RICHFIELD, Minn. (WCCO) -- People gathered together in Richfield on Wednesday to remember 15-year-old-Jahmari Rice, who was shot and killed Tuesday outside the South Education Center, where he was a student.
Another student, a 17-year-old, was critically injured in the shooting, which police say happened when an altercation broke out between students. Two other teenagers are in custody, and charges are expected to come down Thursday, police said.
WCCO-TV spoke with Shyrese James, Rice's mother, at Wednesday's vigil for her son.
"I don't wish this pain on anybody," she said.
Just feet from where her son was killed, James sat in a car, weeping.
"Jahmari was the life of the party," she said. "Everywhere he went, he shined. He made everything OK, and they took my son!"
It's a loss that has other parents in mourning, too. Mary Watkins also has a child at South Education Center.
"I can't even imagine how those parents may feel," Watkins said. "It's like I get to have my daughter, and they don't get to have their child."
Shantayah Isabell was inside the school when Jahmari was shot.
"I just felt stressed at everything that was going on," she said. "I saw my friend Rosie that was sitting there, she was breaking down during that time, so I just wanted to care for her."
She soothed her friend and alerted her mom, sending a text that the school was on full lockdown.
Her mother said: "To see the students and their backpacks and to see the blood...I literally got physically so upset I thought I was gonna throw up. The feeling of it was unnerving. I've just never felt anything like that before."
The students at South Education Center will return to school Friday. There will be healing circles and extensive therapy offered to these students.