Teens Talk About Young Suicide Victim & 17-Year-Old Arrested Friend
Follow CBSDFW.COM: Facebook | Twitter
MCKINNEY (CBS 11 NEWS) - Keeley Seward is among those who went to say goodbye to 14-year-old Raymond Howell Jr., who took his own life in McKinney last week.
"Raymond was such a blessing to be his friend and to know him," she said.
Seward says her message to Howell was that he's loved and that he'll be missed. "I think it's just so sweet how everyone has come together as a community to help junior through everything he went through. It's nice, and I just wish it could have gotten done sooner before he took his life."
McKinney police have arrested Howell's best friend, 17-year-old Jordan Sharifi. He's charged with tampering with physical evidence, a third degree felony, theft of a firearm, a state jail felony, and making a firearm accessible to a child, a Class A misdemeanor.
Police interviewed Sharifi at the scene Thursday, after court documents say he found his friend lying face down here with a gunshot wound to his head.
At first, police say they didn't find the gun Howell used, and that Sharifi told them he hadn't seen it either. But an arrest affidavit says Sharifi later admitted after finding his friend, he took the pistol and threw it into this drainage tunnel.
Police say days earlier, Sharifi stole the gun from a house he was staying in. No one came to the door Monday afternoon when we stopped by.
The court document says Sharifi told police that he stole the gun and ammunition and gave it to Howell for his protection. Sharifi said his friend had been in two fights with other teens at school and that he was afraid they would hurt him again.
Seward said, "I think it's so sad that his best friend is being blamed for this and he had nothing to do with it and didn't know what was going on."
Sharifi remains in the Collin County Jail on $300,000 bond. His family declined comment at their home.
Howell's family declined an interview, but issued a statement saying, "We want to thank our friends, family, and the public for the outpouring of support that we have received... Even at the tender age of 14, Raymond lived a life of love, strong values and integrity that some people never fully experience..."
Seward says, "I honestly believe this will never just be a ditch.. It's going to always have a memory of Raymond here."
Follow Jack on Twitter: @cbs11jack
(©2015 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)