A 14-year-old eighth-grader from East St. Louis, Illinois, who was featured in a Sports Illustrated story about a half-dozen young athletes who would rule the future of sports was shot dead Saturday, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
Jaylon McKenzie, who already had football scholarship offers from Missouri and Illinois despite not yet having entered high school, was killed at around 11:40 p.m. local time at a party in Venice, Illinois, north of East St. Louis and just across the Mississippi River from downtown St. Louis.
A girl, 15, also was critically wounded in the incident and remains hospitalized, police said.
According to the Sports Illustrated story in November, under the headline "The Future is Theirs: Six teens who will rule the future in sports," McKenzie — who played running back, receiver and defensive back at East St. Louis Central Junior High — "drew national attention in August when he caught five passes for 161 yards and two touchdowns to help he East team to a victory at the NFL's 8th Grade All-American Game in Canton, Ohio, in August."
The story then projected into the future:
TOMORROW
Asked what he wants to accomplish, Jaylon says, "Make the NFL." He hopes to follow in the footsteps of Titans cornerback Adoree' Jackson, a star at USC, who is also from the St. Louis suburb of Belleville and also played both ways. But before Jaylon takes on the NFL, he has to go to high school.
IN THE YEAR 2030
Jaylon expects to be playing in the NFL. His dream? To be a star in L.A.—for the Rams or the Chargers.
McKenzie's mother, Sukeena Gunner of Belleville, Illinois, told the Post-Dispatch that witnesses to the shooting said Jaylon was hit by a stray bullet after a fight broke out at the party following the teen's eighth-grade dance.
“It’s so hard to fathom that someone took my baby from me because he dreamed so big,” Gunner said, fighting back tears.
McKenzie had just visited USC during a trip with his youth football team, the Junior Flyers.
Gunner said her son’s goal was to be taken in the first round of the NFL Draft.
"He wanted to attend a Division I university, no specific one, but he was excited about the offers coming in. … He wanted to walk across the stage to accept his contract in the NFL,” Gunner said. “He told me, ‘We’re going to make it, Mama; we’re going to be good, Mama.’ That was his dream. And I believe it would have come true if someone had not taken my baby away from me.”
