CINCINNATI — A Cincinnati mother is mourning the loss of her 13-year-old son, five years after he was caught in crossfire outside a Westwood store.
Marcellus "MJ" Whitehead was just 8 when he was shot in 2021. This week, his family and loved ones returned to the place where he was struck — not only to remember MJ, but to plead for an end to the gun violence.
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Five years ago in this parking lot, a bullet changed Marcella Thompson's life forever. On Tuesday, surrounded by loved ones, she came back to say goodbye to her son.
"I didn't think I'd be standing here today," Thompson said.
"They said he wouldn't make it five minutes when he left this parking lot. He made it five years," Thompson said.
MJ was just 8 years old when he was caught in crossfire outside the Westwood corner store in 2021. He was shot in the head and leg and spent nearly two months in a medically induced coma. But Thompson says her son kept fighting.
"It was like watching a warrior, a child of God. Again, he's a warrior. He was a fighter. Not 24 hours, five years," Thompson said.
MJ died this week at 13.
On his mother's shirt, pictures tell the story of the years in between — a 13th birthday at Children's Hospital, Christmas with his siblings, a smile at a doctor's appointment. They are memories of the boy she wants people to remember, and the life she says gun violence took too soon.
"They need to put the guns down. They need to worry about, you know, getting themselves together and caring about families. They're tearing up homes," Thompson said.
Rodney Christian knew MJ as a quiet kid who would walk to his church's rec center and stop at the store for candy. Now, five years later, he's back in the same place too, holding signs and asking drivers to honk for peace.
"It tragically affects everybody, and we pray that the people behind the gun realize that, and not just before the gun is pulled out, but during the argument, because it starts with that," Christian said.
For Thompson, the balloons released here mark a goodbye. But her message is for the children who are still here.
"Put the guns down. It's kids out here that just come out to go to the store, go to the park and play," Thompson said.
Darius Harris, accused of shooting MJ and two others, at the time was charged with felonious assault and gun charges. He was sentenced to 11 years in prison.
Whitehead's mother tells me she will be pushing, and she is hoping for additional charges in this case.
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