Family and friends gathered at a funeral to remember a 16-year-old shot and killed at a graduation celebration outside Benjamin E. Mays High School last weekend.
Amidst the memories shared of Bre’Asia Powell at Jackson Memorial Baptist Church Saturday came passionate calls to end gun violence
“Y’all got to get it together,” family friend Peaches Goodgame said.
“It’s time for a change,” Douglas Smith with C.T. Martin Recreation Center added.
Atlanta Police said Bre’Asia, a rising Junior at Benjamin E. Mays High School, was killed after shots rang out at a gathering outside the school just around 2:30 a.m. last Sunday morning. Police have not identified the shooter.
The community remembered Bre’Asia as a scholar, basketball teammate, and cheerleader.
“Myself and Mayor Andre Dickens were born and raised in the Adamsville community. We attended L.P. Miles Elementary School just like young Bre’Asia. So she’s a member of our community,” Atlanta City Council member Andrea L. Boone said.
Rappers Lil Baby and Young Dro also spoke to the young people in attendance, encouraging them to put the guns down and stop more lives from being lost.
“I’m saying that as a ‘we’ because I’m with y’all. Like, we gotta change,” Lil Baby said.
“Get you some friends to push you to your potential, and you gotta listen to these adults too,” Young Dro added.
Officials hoped Bre’Asia’s impact here would not soon be forgotten.
“Hopefully they got the message we must stop the violence,” Boone said.
“A message to the parents: It’s the year of the youth. We want them to be busy during the summer months. We want them to have something creative, a job, we have so many people ready to hire our young people,” she added.
Crime Stoppers is continuing to offer a $10,000 dollar reward for any information about who is behind this shooting. Tipsters can remain anonymous.
Source: FOX 5