HIGH POINT, N.C. — A High Point mother made an emotional plea Tuesday night, after someone shot and killed her son, James Murray Jr., at a park over the weekend.
"I hope they get whoever did it. It don't make no sense. Everybody killing one another and everyone need to love one another...the violence needs to stop," said Michelle Johnson.
Family and friends held a vigil Tuesday for the 18-year-old. They came together, prayed, and said enough is enough. The family pleaded for an end to the senseless violence in the city, and for whoever killed their son to turn themselves in.
Murray's cousin, Damarius Fuller-Ali, says he was someone with a lot of ambition and drive.
"He always wanted to do everything. He ended up growing up to be this 18-year-old, that worked on cars and worked on dirt bikes. He made a light in everybody's life," Fuller-Ali said.
Murray's life was cut short, after he was shot in the back Sunday night in Washington Terrace Park. High Point Police say the suspects shot from behind trees near Boundary Avenue, down into the park.
"That was my heart. That was my baby," said Johnson, "He is very talented and everything. I miss him. I love him to death. That's my baby right there."
Two days after the shooting, Johnson says, as his mother, it's too difficult to process.
"I don't know why God would take the best away. That was my heart," she said.
Those who knew him best celebrated his life, with candles, balloons, and revved engines.
"We wanted to be out here tonight to make a vigil for him to say bikes up, guns down," said Fuller-Ali, "Because the most important thing about James is he liked the dirt bikes. He fixed dirt bikes, he put them together."
No more shooting, no more killing, no more vigils for lives taken too soon: that was the message from family and friends.
Now without their son, brother, cousin, and friend, the family prays for answers, and justice.
"To the shooters: I pray to God that you get caught, I pray to God that you have whatever conscience in your heart to wake up in the morning and tell yourself, I need to turn myself in," said Fuller-Ali.
High Point Police believe the shooting is gang-related, but say there's no indication Murray was a target of the violence or involved in gang activity.