Black clergy demanding more action after Simon Gratz HS student's death
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The search is intensifying for the four people who attacked and fatally shot a Simon Gratz High School Mastery Charter sophomore Tuesday. Fifteen-year-old Devin Weedon was just two blocks from the school when he was killed.
Detectives are hoping the new surveillance video will give them the break they need.
The shooting was caught on camera Tuesday near a furniture store at 16th Street and West Hunting Park Avenue in Nicetown. Weedon's death has shaken the Nicetown community.
Weedon was an honor roll student who played football and dreamed of going pro. His friends and family were at Simon Gratz for the vigil Thursday.
Tenth grader Mikel Scott was back in class after Simon Gratz High School closed for "a day of healing" Wednesday.
"The same thing could have happened to me," Scott said.
His mom April Kilpatrick shares her fears.
"It's so tough for our children," Kilpatrick said. "There is so much gun shooting at the schools, on the way to school, on the street."
Scott says Weedon was a good student and he's devastated by his death.
"He was in my last period in art," Scott said. "I would see him here and there and I would never expect something like this to happen to him early in the morning like this."
It's something the Black Clergy of Philadelphia & Vicinity are trying to prevent.
They're planning a summit on April 15 that'll bring together advocates, lawmakers, and community leaders in hopes of finding solutions to gun violence.
"If we keep killing our young people where's our future going to be? Reverend Robert Collier said. "Who will we have to take over for us?"
Reverend Jeanette Davis says there needs to be a focus on how guns are getting into the hands of children.
"They can get a gun before they can get a library card," Davis said. "There's something wrong with that."
Parents and students hope the upcoming summit will hopefully bring change.
"Let's get these guns off the street and stop the killing," Kilpatrick said. "We're just killing each other for no reason."
There's a $30,000 reward for any information that could lead to an arrest.
Police believe the motive was a robbery. No arrests have been made.
His family is demanding justice.
"When he wasn't at the gym working out, he was at the field. When he wasn't at the field, he was at school. From there, he come straight up," mother Wytina Burnside said. "They jumped him. Three people jumped him. Why did you have to shoot him?"
