'The best child anyone could ask for:' Family mourns DuVal High School student killed walking from school
LANHAM, Va. - A family member of the DuVal High School student shot and killed Monday leaving school described an arrest made for murder as "bittersweet".
Wendy Liriano of Beltsville is the aunt of 16-year-old Jayda Medrano-Moore. Liriano said her niece was a loving and respectful young lady.
"[She] wanted peace within everyone and every community. She was a very good basketball player, she played for both AAU, and DuVal High School. She was just Jayda," Liriano said. "No profanity, no negativity ever came from her. She was the best child anyone could ask for."
Medrano-Moore was killed Monday after police say she tried to intervene as two groups were involved in some kind of dispute near Palamar Drive in Lanham, near DuVal High School. A 17-year-old boy, arrested Thursday night, pulled out a gun and shot Medrano-Moore.
17-year-old gunman arrested in murder of DuVal HS student who tried to break up fight: police
Authorities have arrested a 17-year-old gunman from Glenarden in the murder of a DuVal High School student who was shot and killed while she was trying to break up a fight on the way home from school Monday in Prince George's County.
Liriano said news of an arrest made was bittersweet, as it brought some kind of relief to the family but it does not bring back her niece.
"It’s just something ironic and unfortunately, it’s something that’s happening on a day-to-day basis with our youth. Something has and needs to be done," she said.
The 17-year-old suspect, whose name was not publicly released Friday, will face charges as an adult for first and degree murder, first and second-degree assault, and a firearms charge. The suspect is from Glenarden and a student at Flowers High School.
"It seems like we are here way too often. I am frustrated that the violent few are disrupting the education and the promising future of our great children of Prince George’s County," Prince George’s County police chief Malik Aziz said Friday. "Going to school is a great opportunity. It’s the best thing to do. Meeting to fight after school is a bad idea. Bringing a gun is an even worse idea."
The suspect is currently in the custody of the Department of Corrections on a no-bond status.
Medrano-Moore’s family has started a GoFundMe for pay for expenses.