Jaykwon Sharp's eyes moved a little bit, not much, and the 14-year-old didn't move around or act like he was in pain.

"I was rubbing his face and his hair and talking to him and telling him to hang in there, stay with us," said a neighbor, in her 70s, who didn't want her name used because she fears the violence in her East Side neighborhood.

Moments earlier, just before 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sharp had been shot multiple times. He was among four youths who ran up to a car that had pulled up near the corner of Livingston Avenue and Shady Lane Road, just across a small grass field from an adjacent playground for Shady Lane Elementary School. The neighbor heard several shots and saw the car take off and the youths scatter.

Jaykwon — known to family and friends as "Bobby" — just stood there, touching his stomach. Then he slowly slumped to the ground.

"He didn't say anything," the neighbor woman said. A man tried to stem the bleeding while the woman called 911.

"I really thought that he was going to be OK," the woman said. Then the 911 operator told them to roll the teen onto his back, and she saw the multiple gunshot wounds.

Miracle Carolina, also 14, was wounded in the shin during the gunfire. She was hysterical, the woman said, and hobbled over to touch Sharp as he lay there. Both were students at nearby Sherwood Middle School.

Jaykwon was pronounced dead at Mount Carmel East Hospital at 8:06 p.m., police said. Miracle was taken to Nationwide Children's Hospital for treatment.

Acting Columbus Police Chief Thomas Quinlan said Thursday afternoon that officers are working with the family of the 13-year-old boy suspected of firing the fatal shots to find him. He asked that the suspect surrender to police in a safe manner.

"This is very heartbreaking to know a 13-year-old is out there carrying a weapon and so willing to use it," Quinlan said.

"Our hearts and prayers go out to the families suffering through this tragedy. There's nothing more heartbreaking than this loss. We have kids killing kids."



Both Jaykwon and Miracle were graduates of the Teen and Police Service Academy, or TAPS, a program in which students partner with police mentors.

Quinlan said the shooting started as a "dispute," but police aren't sure what the argument was about. Police don't believe it was random but do think the location near the closed elementary school was coincidental. Many kids use the playground area after school, Columbus City Schools spokesman Scott Varner said.

The site of the killing was transformed into a memorial early Thursday with flowers and teddy bears, but bloody bandages and their plastic packages still littered the scene.

On Thursday night, a crowd, including many students, filled Shady Lane near the elementary school for a vigil organized by Jaykwon's sister, 15-year-old Tearayah Woodruff. They added to the memorial, lit candles and placed foam cups in a chain link fence to spell "Bobby."

Miracle, her leg and foot bandaged, limped to the site with some help to add a big bundle of balloons.

Classmate Davonte Courtney, 14, was one of many who brought a sign for teachers and students to sign in remembrance. "Everybody loved him," Courtney said. "He didn't deserve this."

Michael Bell, who works in safety and security at Sherwood school, said Jaykwon was fearless and a protector. He watched over the school's students but also was excited to move on and graduate from eighth grade next week.

His family bought him a suit for the occasion, Woodruff said, a black jacket with khaki pants and an orange shirt.

"Just this week, he told me 'I'm about to make my mama proud,'" Bell said.

Terry Johnson, 46, coach of the Inspiring Children to Excellence football team of which Jaykwon was a member, said the youth was hard-working both on the field and in the classroom. Johnson and his wife tutored him and watched his grades improve to As and Bs, he said.

He was loyal and respectful, Johnson said, but also a typical 14-year-old — feisty, and sometimes a ladies' man. His sister and others joked that many called him "pretty Bobby."

"I haven't cried in a long time, and I've cried enough for probably 100 people," Johnson said. "I'm hurt, not just for him, but for the (shooter's) family as well. Not only did we lose Bobby, we lost the other kid, too, to the system."

Johnson pleaded with the kids at Thursday's vigil to stop resorting to violence to solve problems. Bell told them to honor Jaykwon's life by making good choices and being a positive leader, like him.

"I'm tired of putting kids in caskets," Johnson said.

Columbus City Schools had counselors available Thursday at Shady Lane and Sherwood schools, where almost 1,000 students attend between them.

Columbus City Health Commissioner Mysheika Roberts and Frederick LaMarr, the pastor at Family Missionary Baptist Church, joined police at the Thursday news conference.



"Gun violence is not just a criminal issue, it's a public health issue," Roberts said. "We also know that reducing crime is more than a police issue; it's about partnerships and families. We work on behalf of the three young people that were involved in this incident and our residents to build up our neighborhoods so no other family has to go through this tragedy."

Dispatch Reporter Bethany Bruner contributed to this story.

bbush@dispatch.com

@ReporterBush

awidmanneese@dispatch.com

@AlissaWidman

hpalattella@dispatch.com

@HellaPalattella