Students gather on the football field at Mount Carmel High School in Chicago Dec. 8, 2020, for a prayer service in memory of Isaiah Wade, a 15-year-old sophomore at the school, who was shot to death the day before. (CNS photo/courtesy Mount Carmel High School)
CHICAGO — The school community at Mount Carmel High School, an all-boys Catholic school on the South Side, mourned the shooting death of 15-year-old sophomore Isaiah Wade, who starred as a defensive back and wide receiver on the school’s football team, played lacrosse and had a 3.8 GPA. FOX-TV Channel 32 reported that Isaiah was gunned down behind his home in Chicago’s Roseland neighborhood Dec. 7. He was shot in the head. The motive is unknown. “Another young life cut short by senseless violence. Another family left to mourn, forever altered,” Cardinal Cupich said in a Dec. 8 statement. “Mount Carmel High School is a close community and we keep Isaiah, his family, friends and school staff in our prayers during this unimaginably heartbreaking time.” Mount Carmel’s president, Ned Hughes, told FOX 32 that the school asked the student body to assemble on the football field the morning after Isaiah was killed and they “held a prayer service as an entire community, school.” Head football coach Jordan Lynch said Isaiah was loved by his teammates, coaches and teachers. He was “a kid who did things the right way on the field and in the classroom,” he told the TV station. According to Cook County's medical examiner, there were 902 homicides in Chicago from Jan. 1 to Nov. 30, 810 of which were due to gunshot wounds. The day Isaiah was killed, there were eight shootings in the city. The teen was one of two fatalities.
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