Jefferson High Football Star Gunned Down
TAMPA - A student named one of the best high school football players in the state died Wednesday after he was shot outside his home.
Cedric Jammar Mills, 17, a linebacker for Jefferson High, was standing outside 4219 W. Laurel St. when two people in a Chrysler drove up at about 6:25 p.m., police said. They said witnesses heard gunshots and someone scream.
Mills was found lying in his front yard with two gunshot wounds. He was shot in the stomach, police spokeswoman Andrea Davis said. She said Mills was taken to St. Joseph's Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 7:40 p.m.
Detectives are trying to figure out the motive and whether the assailants knew the teen.
News of his death traveled quickly.
Nearly 100 students showed up at school Wednesday evening, said Bob Morgan, Jefferson's athletic director. Crisis counselors were made available for those mourners, and Morgan said counselors will be on campus today.
"There is a lot of anger and grief right now. We were concerned because there are kids who wanted to find out who did this. Others are just grieving. We just don't want them to be on the streets, so we're going to keep our gym open tonight," Morgan said.
At 5 feet 11 inches tall and 195 pounds, Mills was considered an outstanding linebacker at Jefferson and led one of the best defenses in the state.
Plant High football coach Robert Weiner, who played against Jefferson twice last season, had even spoken to college coaches about Mills.
"They would always ask me who else is good around the city, and my first answer was to head over to Jefferson and see that Mills kid play - because he's something special," Weiner said. "I felt like by the time he was a senior, he could play anywhere in the country one day."
Mills was an honorable mention on the Class 4A All-State Football Team last season. He also was selected to The Tampa Tribune's Hillsborough County Football second team.
"This is the saddest news I've heard in a while," said former Jefferson quarterback Stephen Garcia, who played with Mills last season. "He was a great kid. It's so sad that his life was cut short. He had all the potential in the world and now this? It's unbelievable."
Stephen Garcia, now a player at the University of South Carolina, received a chain text message saying that the linebacker had been shot. A second text message later told him of Mills' death.
Jefferson coach Mike Fenton and Morgan arrived at the hospital late Wednesday evening to comfort Mills' family. Fenton and several Jefferson players said they were too distraught to talk.
Police are looking for the assailants. They don't have a description of the driver. The passenger is described as a black male with a light complexion, 6 feet tall and 160 pounds with a medium build. The vehicle is a newer model Chrysler, possibly two-door and gray in color with tinted windows.
"This is just an awful tragedy," Weiner said, "and the entire football community is mourning."
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