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'Everyone needs to wake up': A mother's message after son killed

"I wish I could just wake him up and tell him I didn't know we had this much love."
Credit: Clancy, Samuel

Family and friends of Oscar Johnson III held a vigil on Friday to honor his life, which was cut short when he was shot and killed inside a north St. Louis home.

Several people spoke at the vigil about the 14-year-old who was described as a funny kid who loved basketball. Loved ones spelled out his nickname “O.J.” with candles on a sidewalk in front his home.

“He was a jokester. He was an angel,” his mother Joletta Hellems said. “He’s not even here and he’s bringing a lot of things into my life that I didn’t have. I wish I could just wake him up and tell him I didn’t know we had this much love.”

Police said Oscar was killed on Wednesday when his 13-year-old friend shot him. Oscar’s family tells us he and a friend were fighting over an iPhone before he was killed. Oscar’s mother believes the shooting was not accidental. The 13-year-old is in police custody.

Oscar attended Yeatman-Liddell Preparatory Middle School, his mother said. Hellems talked to his classmates after her son’s death about youth gun violence.

“I’m just trying to tell all these young kids get your life together,” she said. “Life is too short. If you are not close with your family, get close. Listen and try to understand. Drugs out here and these guns. It’s not the way to go.”

She hopes her son’s death can send a message to the youth about gun violence in the city of St. Louis.

“Everyone needs to wake up," she said. "What I went through, you don’t want to take your mother through. [It’s] is a hard pill to swallow seeing your son come out in a body bag.”

Oscar’s funeral will be held on Thursday.

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