Seventeen-year-old Raekwon Juaquay Brown sacrificed his life when he pushed an elderly woman out of the way of gunfire before he was slain in Wednesday’s daylight shooting near Jeremiah E. Burke High School, the grief-stricken lady told the Herald just hours before a vigil honoring the young hero.

“He saved my life — I have a new life,” the woman, 67, said in Spanish yesterday while tears streamed down her face.

“He was only 17. I’ve lived here 10 years, I’ve never seen anything like this. There needs to be more police here,” she said, showing a wound to her right ankle, where police say she was grazed.

Complete coverage: Brazen daylight shooting at Burke School

The woman was one of four people struck by gunfire in the 1:15 p.m. ambush that left Brown, a Burke High junior, dead. Her name is being withheld by the Herald because she is a witness to the murder.

She explained she was in an alley by a pizza shop when the shooting broke out. The teen, who was sitting down eating a hamburger, got up and pushed her to the side by a car, she claimed.

Last night hundreds of people, including at least a dozen family members, crowded in front of the market on Washington Street less than a block from the school where Brown fell.

Some men turned and walked away in tears while several women dabbed their eyes with tissues from a box that was being passed around. Brown’s mother, Wanda Graddy, supported by several relatives, walked toward a memorial for her son, where she cried, “My boy, my boy.”

The Rev. William Dickerson of the Greater Love Tabernacle Church spoke first and called for the killer to step forward and for witnesses to name him.

“We pray that justice will come in the midst of this terrible reality,” Dickerson said.

Family members said they hope that whoever pulled the trigger will surrender.

“Stop being cowards,” said Raekwon’s older brother, John Brown. “Stand up like a man. Take your consequences.”

Beside him was the slain teen’s godmother, Jacqueline Cane.

“I just want you to know, whoever did it, turn yourself in,” she said. “You’re not going to sleep until you turn yourself in. That was a good guy here. This was my God-baby. Seventeen years old, you took his life. Turn yourself in or you will never rest.”

Mourners said another prayer and then hugged as they departed.

Police Commissioner William B. Evans said one angle investigators are looking into is whether the shooting was gang-related or whether it was a fight that “spiraled out of control and a young kid gets killed.” Police are probing if the fight started days before.

Evans called Brown’s murder a “terrible tragedy.” Homicide detectives are working around the clock, looking at surveillance camera video and talking to ?witnesses, Evans said.

He called on more witnesses to come forward. “Please help us solve this,” Evans said. “We spoke to the mom. Clearly they’re hoping to get who’s responsible for their son’s death.”

At his school, teachers and administrators also mourned the young man they knew as a loving presence who never missed a day of class.

“Raekwon was probably one of the most loving and caring students I have ever had in the Sophomore Academy,” said Cheryl Windle, leader for the academy. “He actually had this warmth about him that I really believe captures his true essence. He will truly be missed by all of us here at the Burke community.”

"I think it's important for everyone to know that Raekwon was a bright, smiling, happy student," said Laura Mansfield, his math teacher. "He was always smiling, always laughing, always cracking jokes. He had an incredible gift of making everyone feel connected, feel included. You couldn't help but love Raekwon, he was just that great of a person. He worked so hard this year in his math class and his biology class and he was so proud of himself and we were so proud of him."

"He had the same set of friends from day one in his freshman year as he did yesterday," said Lindsa McIntyre, headmaster of Burke. "He was loyal, he was fun, and he was caring. He never missed a day of school. We love Raekwon."