Kids, students and adults exchanged hugs and shared tears during a vigil Thursday night April 21st for a Howard High School of Technology girl who died Thursday morning after altercation in a school bathroom.
Pastor Derrick Johnson encouraged the about 50 youth in the crowd to get involved in the community instead of picking on each other.
“Our girls, our women," Johnson said. "Ya’ll are queens, man! Take back your beef. This is your war. It’s time for ya’ll to speak up.”
The vigil was organized in part by Stop the Violence Prayer Chain Foundation, with community activists like Malcolm Coley speaking.
“It has to be every single person out here coming together to make a difference," Coley said. "It takes a village to raise a child and that’s the concept we need to come back to.”
Police have offered few details about the assault on the girl, a 10th grade student from New Castle.
It’s believed that two other girls were involved in the altercation. Detectives from Wilmington’s homicide and violent crime unit questioned them Thursday.
The girl was transported to A.I. DuPont Hospital for Children by a state police helicopter, were she was later pronounced dead from her injuries.
Geneva Smith, who has a granddaughter around the same age as the girl who died Thursday, was among community members gathered outside the high school. Her grandson’s fiancé goes to school there – and knew the girl who lost her life.
“It really made me feel like I wanted to pass out because it could have been my granddaughter. I was so weak - I’m still weak from thinking about it," Smith said.
Andre Mills was among those expressing shock and surprise that something like this would happen at Howard.
“This school is – what’s crazy about it – is it’s not even the type of school that has a reputation for that. It’s always been known as a fashion school, fashion show," Mills said. "Never this. After that happened – do I want to send me child there? Not after this. There’s a cop here not monitoring nothing. There’s cameras all over the school – is nobody monitoring that the bathroom door is locked? Who’s watching the cameras?”
Doretha Fowlkes – who lost her only son to gun violence - sympathizes with the parents of both the victim and perpetrators, and hopes there won’t be retaliation.
“It affects two families," Fowlkes said. "The ones that did it look at their families, their parents and then the one that lost their life, their parents. It affects both sides.”
A Wilmington mayoral debate on public safety was scheduled at the school Thursday night, but was canceled.
Wilmington Mayor Dennis Williams says now is the time for the city to demonstrate its commitment to the local communities and youth.
"Our entire city is shaken by the loss of this child’s life, but in this moment we should all come together to work collectively to address the serious needs of our youth,” Williams said in a statement.
Rep. Stephanie Bolden said in a statement that as a Howard High High school graduate herself, she is deeply saddened by Thursday morning's events.
Attorney General Matt Denn described the event as "a brutal beating death," and said he was supposed to be at the school this morning, mentoring a student.
"It's shocking even to us whose job it is to deal with the aftermath of violence on a daily basis," Denn said.
A prayer walk is being organized for 4 p.m. outside Howard High Friday, and will end in Rodney Square.