Slain student's friends: 'It's got to stop'

Devyn Burkett, the best friend and classmate of slain Overbrook High School student Bernard Jamal Scott, is 16 and weary.

"I'm tired of this," said Burkett Tuesday as dozens of teary-eyed Overbrook students gathered around him on the front steps of the school.

"All of this shooting. It's got to stop. I've already lost too many people," Burkett said. "I don't want Bernard's death to be in vain."

Burkett called for an end to gun violence, saying he's "traumatized" from the loss.

Scott, 17, was an innocent bystander shot and killed last Thursday during a gun fight in Tustin Playground, across the street from the Overbrook High in West Philadelphia. Two other teenagers were wounded.

Burkett was one of more than 100 students who remembered Scott during a vigil Tuesday afternoon. They remembered Scott as a playful jokester who stayed out of trouble.

Kenshaun Walker, one of Scott's 10th-grade classmates, wore a "Rest in Peace" T-shirt and jacket featuring several photos of Scott embedded in it. He said Scott was a "funny guy" and dependable.

"He was a regular, regular kid, like all of the children here," said Overbrook High School Principal Ethelyn Payne Young. She said the vigil "was something our kids wanted to do. We've been hurting."

With music playing and peers hugging each other, the school's Praise Dancers imitated butterflies in flight.

The hugs and tears intensified as students released helium-filled hand balloons to a clear blue sky above with Michael Jackson's "Man in the Mirror" playing on the loud speaker. Scott loved the King of Pop.

Jerry Jordan, president of the 15,000-member Philadelphia Federation of Teachers union, at the vigil described Scott as "one of our children who was on the path of doing great things. We cannot afford to lose our young people."

Police have questioned two people but as of Tuesday filed no charges in the Scott homicide case.