Grandmother of Letrell Duncan, teen shot to death near school in East Orange, calls on President Biden to help stop violence
EAST ORANGE, N.J. -- An emotional vigil was held Monday for 16-year-old Letrell Duncan, a beloved high school athlete who was shot and killed while hanging out after school.
Police have not made any arrests in the killing, but Duncan's grandmother is making a plea to President Joe Biden to do something about the continued violence, CBS2's Christine Sloan reported.
The vigil was held at a memorial near the scene where Duncan was shot four times in the head. His grandmother broke down and asked to president to get guns off the street.
"It hurts to my core. I can't sleep at night," said Pamela Courten. "I'm not the only one. It's all over the country. How do these kids get guns?"
Courten expressed unimaginable pain over her grandson's senseless death as he left school in East Orange, New Jersey on Oct. 3.
"Why a teenager? Why should they have gun to shoot another teenager?" said Courten.
Duncan's father wiped away tears and was unable to speak about his son, a rising basketball star. Courten, though, asked the president to stop guns from coming into her community and for Republicans and Democrats to work together.
"President Biden, I'm pleading on behalf of Latrell Elijah Duncan, please sir, from the bottom of my heart, and I know you're a just man, please do something," said Courten.
"Latrell's job was to bury me ... The worst thing I did last week was to pick out a coffin for him. Do you know how that feels?" Courten added.
Community activists, Duncan's teammates and the mayor of East Orange were at the vigil and vowed to work together.
Surveillance video of the shooting shows kids running after the gunfire, but the Essex County Prosecutor's Office is not releasing much information.
"There's no justice. Nobody find who killed my grandson!" said Courten. "I have to know who killed him, and why they killed him!"
Courten told CBS2 Duncan's funeral is scheduled for Saturday.
