Slain Baltimore High School Student's Family Speaks Out

BALTIMORE (WJZ)-- A Baltimore high school loses two students to violence this month. Now, one of the victim's families is speaking only to WJZ.

Weijia Jiang has the story and the search for a killer.

The police, at this point, do not know if the murders are linked. The mother of the most recent victim said the two boys were actually friends, both eager to graduate and make better lives for themselves. It's a dream that will never come true.

"I'll never see my son again. I have to prepare to bury my child," said LaTonya Staggs, Devearl Singletary's mother.

LaTonya Staggs says she hasn't stopped crying since her 17-year-old son, Devearl Singletary Jr., was gunned down and killed Monday night.

"Some animal just ripped him apart from his mother," Staggs said. "He don't deserve to die. Who gives a person the right to take someone's life in cold blood?"

Singletary is the second student at Baltimore's Augusta Fells Savage Institute For Visual Arts killed in the past month.

Police say it happened on the 1400-block of Kuper Place around 10 p.m.

A neighbor, who wished to remain anonymous, said Singletary was shot just steps from his front door.

"It was two young kids that did it but no one knows who they were," he said. "I heard the shots."

Police say after he was shot, Singletary made it around the corner to the 200-block of South Calhoun Street. He knocked on a door for help, someone inside called the police.

"The victim was transported to Shock Trauma where he later died from his injuries," said Jeremy Silbert of the Baltimore City Police Department.

Staggs says it's the second tragedy to fall on the family this year. On Jan. 1, Devearl Singletary Jr.'s grandmother was killed when her house filled up with carbon monoxide.

At a vigil, the teen's father, Devearl Singletary Sr., spoke to WJZ.

"That's all I got to remember them by is pictures," he said.

Now, he says the same about his son-- an honor roll student his mom says was turning his life around after getting into trouble on the streets.

Those streets are now lined with notes and balloons to remember.

"I can't live a day because he's not here," Staggs said. "How do I try to live from here?"

A spokesperson for Baltimore City Schools would not comment about the double killings, only calling it a "tragic coincidence." Police have no suspects in either case at this time.

Singletary's family is preparing to lay him to rest at the Gary March Funeral Home in Baltimore.

Donations to the family should be sent to the Nancy Wallace Funeral Service at 3405 West Franklin Street, Baltimore, Md. 21229. Attn: Devearl Singletary Jr.