Days before the December holiday break, Mark Oderbert II walked outside a relative’s home after a music studio session and was cut down by gunfire. He was 15.

Mark was a popular, charming teenager during his time at South Oak Cliff High School, family and friends say. He loved gospel and R&B music and wanted to be a football player, or maybe an architect. Dallas police don’t believe his slaying was gang-related, but the case remains unsolved.

Although Mark had transferred in October to Carter High School, the South Oak Cliff High community still regarded him as one of their own. That made his death another blow to a school that had already lost two students — 18-year-old NeQuacia Jacobs and 15-year-old Roy Stuart — to gun violence and had at least one other severely wounded in recent years.

Willie Johnson, the high school’s principal, said he’s never seen such deadly violence toward teens in his 25-plus years as an educator.

Beverly Oderbert (in stripes), mother of Mark Oderbert II, embraced Alexis Jackson (left) and Davine McCrary during a memorial service at Paradise Missionary Baptist Church on Dec. 26, 2018. (Nathan Hunsinger / Staff Photographer)

“This is something we have to address because it has become progressively worse. I have lost many students,” Johnson said. “It’s almost becoming normal.”

Regardless of whether the shootings were bad fortune or part of a pattern, the violence has shaken administrators and residents around the tight-knit, low-income high school, which has already been in tumult in recent years. They have made a pact to end the violence associated with the school commonly known as SOC — which some have previously dubbed “School of Crimes.”

At Mark’s vigil, Derrick Battie, leader of the high school’s alumni association, said that “senseless gun violence can’t stand in our communities.”

“It makes no sense for a student that’s in high school — who is having the best time of their life — to get killed over nothing,” he said.

“This is the brutal reality for the lives of students of South Oak Cliff.”

Life at SOC

Of South Oak Cliff’s roughly 1,200 students, nearly 90 percent come from low-income homes, according to the Texas Education Agency. Some students are homeless or transient.

Still, the school expects academic excellence and athletic dominance.

South Oak Cliff has produced notable alumni such as former Dallas Police Chief David Brown; Leslie Williams, Dallas ISD’s deputy chief of racial equity; Battie’s brother Tony, a former NBA journeyman; basketball Hall-of-Famer Dennis Rodman; and other athletes such as former pro football players Wayne Morris and Mike Livingston.

Of South Oak Cliff's roughly 1,200 students, nearly 90 percent come from low-income homes, according to the Texas Education Agency. Some students are homeless or transient. (Ryan Michalesko / Staff Photographer)

But in 2014, the school failed to meet the state’s academic standards, according to TEA records. Three years later, the school improved its standing and now is up to standard.

During that struggle, the learning environment seemed to be falling apart.

The school suffered through issues with the roof, water damage, pest control, heating and cooling systems, a gas leak and concerns about lead in the water. When it rained, a classroom roof caved in.

Students for years banded together with activists and demanded that public officials provide them with better conditions. In December 2015, students led a campus walkout to protest the plethora of problems.

“How can we learn when we are uncomfortable?” said David Johnson, a South Oak Cliff senior at the protest. “We are fed up.”

The school temporarily moved its classrooms into the former Dallas ISD alternative school Village Fair. After the protests, district officials set aside $52 million to renovate the SOC campus. The district expects renovations to be finished this summer.

But the school still has to cope with an at-times rough campus culture, too. LaKeith Hall, who went to SOC, said life as a teenager at South Oak Cliff High can be difficult. Fights, he said, sometimes break out because of a misunderstood glance.

"It [SOC] stood for School Of Crimes because everything was so bad," he said.

Hall, 43, had his own run-ins with the legal system when he was younger.

Now, he says, he’s devoted to improving his community. For instance, he organizes picnics for neighborhood associations and became Mark’s mentor.

"As I got older, I saw how much I was wrecking it. I said, 'It's time to do something different,'" Hall said in an interview. "All you hear about Oak Cliff is the violence. A lot of us is tired of what's going on. Our neighborhood has been judged.

"We got a lot of love in Oak Cliff. We some Southern folks."

Memories of Mark

Mark’s death broke Hall’s heart. Older generations of SOC alumni, including Hall, have committed to watch out for the kids.

“That hurt bad. It’s not that I just know Mark. I’ve seen that little boy raised. Things are getting out of hand,” Hall said. “It’s on another level when we losing kids.”

Allyson Perales, Mark’s cousin, said he loved sports, especially football. The tall, broad-shouldered boy was a defensive lineman for SOC.

A photo of Mark Oderbert II stood on display during his December memorial service at Paradise Missionary Baptist Church. (Nathan Hunsinger / Staff Photographer)

“He was a big dude. He’d get tired. But he had a lot of heart,” Perales said. “Little Mark was very popular everywhere he went.”

Maxie Johnson, Mark’s volunteer football coach and president of the school’s parents’ coalition, said Mark was a funny, charming and sometimes goofy kid.

Johnson said as a coach, dealing with the death of an athlete is like mourning family.

“I’m tired of losing our young people,” he said. “This kid was a baby. We have to do something about gun violence.”

Mark’s parents, Beverly and Mark Oderbert Sr., declined to be interviewed for this story, saying they’re still too heartbroken by the Dec. 15 shooting.

Perales, his cousin, said she and others are still grieving, too.

“The pain lingers on when you don’t have a finger to point,” Perales said. “It leaves an open wound that keeps spreading. The community is still taking it hard.”

Years ago, a family friend posted a video on YouTube of Mark when he was 5 years old dressed in an oversized suit and reciting lines from Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech. The video of the earnest-looking boy has circulated among friends after his death.

The footage is a bittersweet memory of the boy’s strong personality, Perales said.

"He was very headstrong," she said. "We lost a hero. We lost a leader. One thing about him: He was going to be heard."

Terrence Moore, a childhood friend of Mark’s, said he felt like he lost “a little brother.”

“I wish I would have told him I loved him more,” he said.

Other shootings

Before Mark was killed, NeQuacia Jacobs, 18, was fatally shot in early 2018 while in her living room. Jacobs' teenage sister was injured but survived.

Police say 19-year-old Jeremy Lamont Warren killed Jacobs. Six months after her death, officers detained Warren on separate robbery charges and charged him with the murder. A police spokeswoman said in a written statement that "no probable motive" had been found.

In 2016, 15-year-old Roy Stuart was fatally shot at the apartment complex where he lived with his grandmother. A 15-year-old was arrested on manslaughter charges in connection with Roy's death. A police spokeswoman said the juvenile “was mishandling a weapon and unintentionally shot” him.

Last year, the school created a mural in memory of the students and cultural icons — such as rappers Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G. — lost to gun violence, with their photos hanging in the hall.

But not all the violence has been fatal. Vincent Warren was 17 when he was shot in the summer of 2016. He was leaving a party at a community center when a bullet struck him in the torso and left him paralyzed from the waist down.

That shooting also remains unsolved.

Stacy Sanders, Warren’s mother, said she and her son have suffered from depression since the shooting.

“I felt like I lost him,” Sanders said. “That’s how devastated I was. We still cry about it. I’m still very sensitive about the situation.”

Community commitment

In the South Oak Cliff community, residents hope to turn their pain into action.

The tight-knit community recently held a “Stop the Violence” meeting at Glendale Park, where Hall and Trisha Allen of No More Violence, an advocacy group, committed to helping family and kids. Allen also has hosted seminars for families affected by violence.

1 / 2LaKeith Hall and others registered to vote during a Stop the Violence Oak Cliff picnic at Glendale Park in South Dallas on Jan. 27, 2019. Community members came together to address gun violence in the area.(Rose Baca / Staff Photographer) 2 / 2Derrick Battie greeted Katrina Clark during a Stop the Violence Oak Cliff picnic at Glendale Park in South Dallas on Jan. 27, 2019. Community members came together to address gun violence in the area.(Rose Baca / Staff Photographer)

Robyn Harris, a spokeswoman for Dallas ISD, said the district started an initiative called See, Say, Do to encourage students to report crime tips to its police force.

“The district is always exploring and looking at other opportunities to help with these types of community concerns,” she said.

Dallas ISD trustee Lew Blackburn, who represents the school, said the whole city needs to be involved in a solution, not just the district.

In response to questions about how the department is tackling gun violence, a spokeswoman passed along a statement that said the police approach to combating gun violence, gangs and drugs is “aggressive.” The department said its federal, local and state partnerships are “key to seeing a reduction in these kinds of crimes, especially amongst youth.”

Maxie Johnson, the football coach and SOC parents' coalition president, is running against Blackburn. He said the district’s current efforts aren’t enough.

“Imagine how [the deaths] affect our youth,” he said. “We talk about life lessons. Not putting yourself in harm’s way. But I think we need more resources to educate our kids and parents.”

Willie Johnson, the principal, said most of the violence is outside of the school’s control because it occurs in the surrounding neighborhoods.

He said although the district has staff trained to help students deal with trauma, more focused resources can help prevent some shootings. Johnson said the school also would benefit from hiring teachers and educators from within the South Oak Cliff community.

“We need to address this in an instructional way — in a proactive type of way,” the principal said. “It’s about relationships. With students, it has to do with trust. A student has to trust you to open up.”

The motto of SOC students is inspired by Maya Angelou: The words “Still, I rise” are prominent throughout the school.

And, the principal said, despite all the talk about future solutions, classes must continue after the trauma, no matter how difficult.

“That’s what is expected from us.”