Family remembers 17-year-old Jada Sellers, Milford Mill student gunned down in Southwest Baltimore

Loved ones are celebrating the life of 17-year-old Jada Sellers, a Baltimore teen gunned down two weeks ago. 

The Milford Mill Academy student was shot on Friday, July 31 in Southwest Baltimore. After a brave fight in the hospital that lasted 12 days, Sellers died this week, surrounded by her loved ones at the University of Maryland Medical Center. 

Police have not announced any suspects or arrests in the case.

Who was Jada Sellers?

Sellers' cousin, Heber Brown III, described her as "a person in a little frame who made a big impact." 

He said the teenager was a scholar — vice president of the Student Government Association and a National Honor Society member. 

Brown said the vibrant 17-year-old also loved dance and cheer.

Her classmates with Milford Mill Academy Athletics posted a picture with her on Instagram and wrote "Fly High, Jada."

"There's an African proverb that says as long as you speak the names of those who passed, they never die," Brown told WJZ Investigator Mike Hellgren. "And so we continue to speak Jada's name."

What happened to her

At her young age, Sellers was enjoying life, smiling in photograph after photograph. She had a supportive family and lots of friends.

 But everything changed when someone shot her in the 700 block of Lyndhurst Street, not far from Edmondson Village. The violence unfolded just after midnight on the last day of July. 

Sellers' cousin thanked detectives for their work but did not go into specifics about the incident. 

"There will come a time where, as a family, our focus will shift to the investigation and that part of it. Right now, we rest knowing that others are holding that part," Brown said, adding that the family received a call from Mayor Brandon Scott offering condolences and prayers.

Baltimore police have not released much information publicly. Those with tips are asked to call Metro Crime Stoppers at 1-866-7Lockup.an $8,000 reward is offered for information that leads to an arrest. 

Family comes together

The family spent tense days at the hospital praying for a recovery, and they did it their way. 

"Instead of just sitting in the family waiting area, feeling all the heaviness of that moment, we started making our way to the piano at the University of Maryland Medical Center. And we started singing together. We started playing together," said Brown. 

The music filled the corridors, led by another of Sellers' cousins, Anthony Brown, an accomplished gospel singer with worldwide reach who has a ministry at the First Baptist Church of Glenarden in Prince George's County. 

"It really was poetic in a sense, because Jada was all about family and friends and togetherness, and even there at that hospital in the condition that she was in, we were doing the thing that Jada loves: We were gathering. We were praying. We were singing," her cousin, Heber Brown III, said. "She was a spark and a catalyst for more family and more friends coming together."

Asked how the family has coped, he said, "It was a nightmare, but one of the things that helped us was anchoring ourselves in our faith. We are a family of faith."

Violence in Baltimore

Sellers is one of 63 people killed in Baltimore in 2026, as of Friday, Aug. 14. That is a 24 percent decrease from the 83 homicides at this time last year in the city. 

Baltimore has also seen a reduction in nonfatal shootings. There have been 193 so far in 2026, compared to 206 at this time in 2025.