‘A young man ... trying to do things the right way,’ principal says of slain teenager

More than a 100 people came out for a vigil Sunday night for slain 16-year-old Jayvon Sherman.

The 10th grader at Central High School was shot while he was walking to school Thursday and died later at the Medical Center, Navicent Health.

“This was a young man (who) was trying to do things the right way,” Central High School principal Emanuel Frazier said at the vigil.

Although Frazier didn’t know Sherman, the reaction of his teachers and fellow students to his death spoke volumes about him. The teenager had enrolled in the school Aug. 1.

Frazier asked those at the vigil to keep the teenager’s family in prayer.

“He was a good kid,” Bibb County Sheriff David Davis said just before the start of the vigil, “And certainly didn’t deserve to have his life ended this way.

“He was headed to school, doing what we want all kids his age to do: be in school, get an education and make a life for themselves,” Davis said.

Investigators have been working around the clock, though the weekend, following leads and “hoping for a break that’s going to make a difference in this case,” Davis said.

Davis said there are those in the community who know what happened, and he urged them to come forward.

The vigil was held in the parking lot of the Bold As A Lion Family Worship Center — directly across the street from where the teenager was shot near the entrance of the old Winship Elementary School at 2560 Beech Ave.

A passerby saw someone lying near the sidewalk shortly before 7:30 that morning. First responders found the teenager with his bookbag shot in the chest.

Balloons, flowers, a poster, teddy bears and cards marked the spot Sunday.

“Where is the outcry?” Bibb County Coroner Leon Jones asked those at the vigil.

Jones expressed frustration that people marched about a Confederate monument, or would have filled the streets if a white police officer had shot the teenager, he said. Jones noted that there have been 22 homicides this year, with 21 of those victims black individuals.

“The violence in Macon has to stop,” said Karen Evans, who was Sherman’s school counselor when the teenager previously lived in Macon.

“We’ve got to take back our streets. We are losing children who haven’t gotten to the opportunity to live,” Evans said.

The teenager’s father, Joseph Sherman, sat in the front row of the vigil, sometimes wiping away tears. Other times capturing vigil moments on his cellphone.

Before the vigil started, he said it was just too painful for him to talk. Several other family members of the slain teenager and his friends also attended the vigil. They wore shirts with the teenager’s photo.

“Long live Jayvon,” one T-shirt read.

Anyone with information in the case is urged to call for an investigator at 478-751-7500, or phone anonymous tips to Macon Regional Crimestoppers at 877-68-CRIME.

This story was originally published October 22, 2017 at 7:54 PM with the headline "‘A young man ... trying to do things the right way,’ principal says of slain teenager."