Thousands mourn shooting death of 14YO Oakland Tech student

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- A thousand people gathered inside a church to mourn the death and celebrate the life of a 14-year-old boy gunned down while walking home with his friends late last month.

Davon Ellis was a star athlete and student and his family said they want something positive to come from this tragic loss.

Speaking to a crowd of mourners, Tylon Sizemore, a friend of young Ellis and his family, demanded that his death lead to something better for Oakland, for all those the 14-year-olds left behind.

"You guys are our future. We can't let them all take our future," Sizemore said.

"Davon should be happy right now," said Carl Adams, a friend, during Ellis' memorial. "He should be at school right now. Period. Like, it's got to stop."

Ellis was shot and killed on Feb. 28 as he walked to a store with his friends along Brookdale Avenue in East Oakland.

"Aren't you guys tired of coming to these kind of meetings?" Marquis Ransom, a football coach said. "Aren't you guys tired?"

The Oakland Tech student was a standout football player, an honor student and a role model to many of those who met him.

"When we'd go on trips, Davon would help the other players with their homework," said Russell Winston Jr., another football coach.

Among those in attendance, Ellis' Pop Warner Football teammates all dressed in white, young men clearly devastated by his loss.

Although police say a person of interest is in custody, there is no clear motive for the teen's death.

"If it can't bring my son back, I really don't care why," said the teen's father Christopher Ellis. "I just want justice not only for my son but all kids of all ethnicities that suffered tragedies like this."

Ellis' father has created a foundation in his son's memory and will hold a march this Sunday, all with the goal of stopping the violence that has claimed so many young lives.