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Family members of the 12-year-old boy shot and killed in St. Paul mourned the loss at a balloon release on Sunday evening.
Dozens of family members filled the streets in St. Paul to try and wrap their heads around the loss of 12-year-old Markee Jones.
What started as a birthday party to celebrate life turned into family members planning a funeral for a child.
“It’s going to really hurt just not seeing him at my grandmother’s house and playing with him,” Chyarm Hill, the victim’s cousin, said.
Family members of the 12-year-old boy shot and killed in St. Paul mourned the loss at a balloon release on Sunday evening.
Dozens of family members filled the streets in St. Paul to try and wrap their heads around the loss of 12-year-old Markee Jones.
What started as a birthday party to celebrate life turned into family members planning a funeral for a child.
“It’s going to really hurt just not seeing him at my grandmother’s house and playing with him,” Chyarm Hill, the victim’s cousin, said.
Family members said Markee brought life into his grandmother’s house, but now it won’t be the same.
“He always brought out positivity of anything. If anyone was mad, he would bring out the light,” Hill said.
Markee was celebrating a birthday in St. Paul when the family said an accident happened on Saturday.
St. Paul police were called to the 200 block of Stinson Street West just before 5 a.m.
The family explained two boys started playing with a gun they found, and it went off and killed the 12-year-old.
Family members said someone they know placed a gun inside the home without their knowledge.
“I was at a loss for words. I’m so devastated by it because I don’t know what actually happened,” Margaret Jones, the victim’s grandmother, said.
Jones is Markee’s other grandmother, who was not at the party when it happened.
On Sunday, loved ones poured into the St. Paul neighborhood turning the street into a sea of blue to try and cope with the tragedy.
“He was joyful, playful, always happy and giving,” Jones said.
The family remembered 12 years of Markee’s life, while mourning the loss of a bright future.
“He was very smart and artistic. I’m just going to miss him so much,” Jones said.
The family is pleading for the 14-year-old family member, who was taken to the Ramsey County Juvenile Detention Center in connection to the incident on suspicion of manslaughter, to be released.
“This is an accident and I need them to recognize this,” Marilyn Hill, a family member, said. “This boy is 14 years old. He doesn’t know what’s going on.”
‘We already lost one cousin. We don’t need to lose another,” Chyarm said.
The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office said it has not received the case yet.
Family members are still calling for the owner of the gun to turn themselves in.
