DAVID MILLER
STARKVILLE — The cool kids and the cliques meant nothing to Devin Mitchell, though he was in everybody’s circle of friends.
Athletes, art students, freshmen, upperclassmen, black students and white students — to Mitchell, a person’s look and lifestyle made him unique. And he’d always remind others of it.
“He was always taking up for people if he saw you were treated wrong,” said Starkville High junior and friend Janna Gandy. “And he never wanted to see you down. He’d always say, ‘Poke that lip in and put a smile on your face.’”
Mitchell will be laid to rest at 2 p.m. today at Calvary Baptist Church on Jackson Street in Starkville. He was shot to death New Year’s Day.
There’s a strange irony that everyone’s “big brother” didn’t have someone to protect him from a bullet that wasn’t even meant for him, said friend Charles Hughes. The shooting, which took place in front of Mitchell’s aunt’s apartment in West Point, has been described by police as a random, senseless act of violence.
“To a certain extent, there is some comfort knowing it wasn’t malicious,” Hughes said, “because nobody would do that to him. They didn’t know each other, and (the shooter) didn’t know how far his river extended in the community.”
Martyrs are often religious, political or civil rights heroes whose impact spans generations and reaches thousands, if not millions. Their lives are often claimed by people who oppose their ideology and relentless efforts for equality.
The man accused of shooting Mitchell, 31-year-old Tavaris Collins, didn’t know Mitchell’s name or the classmates and childhood friends who looked up to him.
To his teachers and classmates, Mitchell sacrificed plenty to be the friend and student he was. He could have turned the cheek when he saw a student being bullied. He could have put his headphones on and ignored someone having a bad day. He could have smiled less. He could have done all the things hundreds of classmates did and cared more about himself.
Read complete article at the Starkville Dispatch.
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