BALTIMORE — Family, friends, classmates and school officials are mourning the death of a teenager who was killed hours after junior prom last week.
Jasmine Brunson, whp was a junior student at Carver Vocational Tech High School in Baltimore, was killed early Friday.
Officials told WMAR-2 News this was the second student they’ve lost this year to violence in Baltimore.
Carver Votech High School Principal Shionta Somerville said Brunson, who many knew as Jas, was one of her best students since he arrived in 9th grade.
“He was always a shining bright spot in the school,” Somerville said. “He had a huge friend group, staff loved him, like he was close to so many adults and students here.”
Principal Somerville told WMAR-2 News that she got a hug from Brunson every time she saw him.
“You couldn’t ask for a better kid like he was it,” Somerville.
Through tears of sadness, Principal Somerville said the last time she saw him was last week at junior prom and she had no idea that would be the last time she saw him alive.
“I saw him Thursday night. I was at the prom. He looked really nice and I got the call Friday morning,” Somerville said.
Police say on Friday in East Baltimore, just after 3:30 a.m., officers responded near East Lafayette and North Broadway where Brunson had been shot, just a few hours after his junior prom.
He was taken to the hospital where he later died from his injuries.
“It’s really hard because, you know the Black males, in Baltimore, it’s just not fair. They don’t get a chance,” Principal Somerville said.
Principal Somerville said Jas was studying carpentry with construction and had aspirations of not only graduating from high school one day but from college as well.
“He won’t get that chance next year,” Somerville said. “His family, the teachers, his friends, everybody, that is what we wanted for him, the same as we want for all of our students.”
Principal Somerville said a couple months ago, 9th-grader Braylon Gannon was killed after he was shot in the head.
People who live in the area where last week’s shooting happened were torn after learning a teenager was killed.
“Yeah, I heard about it,” Jaylen Jones said. “My uncle lives around here so he called me that night making sure everybody was OK, and to find out it was a kid, that was very heartbreaking.”
School officials are providing additional support from social workers and psychologists to help everyone deal with this death.
“We always want the students to know there is somebody in that building who they can go to and talk to and we will definitely get them the help that they need,” Principal Somerville said.
