‘Everyone Remembers His Smile’: Richfield Youth Group Mourns Jahmari Rice

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RICHFIELD, Minn. (WCCO) — A community is leaning on one another as they prepare to lay a 15-year-old boy to rest.

Nearly one week has passed since Jahmari Rice was gunned down outside of his Richfield school. His friends spoke with WCCO Monday about how their church is helping them heal together.

At Young Life at Hope Church in Richfield, Mondays are known for gathering together. This week, the program met for the first time all together since Rice’s murder.

Program organizers said they wanted to create a safe space for students to laugh, grieve, cry and play.

“We had a room where students could write notes to him, but we had the gym open so they could actively workout and process that way,” said Richfield Young Life Area Developer Cesar Castillejos. “And in one of the rooms we had a slideshow going so students could kind of just pause.”

He said Rice joined the program in sixth grade, quickly making friends with everyone. Castillejos was not only his mentor, but also his neighbor who often gave him rides home.

Jahmari Rice (credit: Hope Church)

“He waited for me to clean up, and I knew that he valued just that four-block drive,” he said. “And looking back at it now, I wish we could do that again.”

T.J Turley was Rice’s friend, and had played football with him at Richfield High School. He said Rice was always optimistic, caring and friends with a lot of different people.

“We’ve all come from tattered backgrounds, you know, and he was just somebody who was able to make good of where he came from, and was always trying to make his grandma and auntie proud,” Turley said. “Always respectful, always mannerful, always cared about other opinions and let them be voiced. And was just overall somebody that was great fun to be around, and he had such a good aura.”

“Super-high charisma, super-high energy, everyone remembers his smile,” said area director Darby Voeks.

“An impact and legacy that’s not gonna leave this city for a long time,” Castillejos said.

The program is selling custom shirts in Rice’s honor. Click here for more information.