'People wanted to be like Jeremiah': Mervo teen's on-campus murder shocks many

BALTIMORE — The new school year is only a week old.

Already, there have been two students in the Baltimore area killed by gun violence.

They both happened on the same day – Friday.

MORE: Police identify student shot and killed by teen from another school during dismissal at Mervo High

Mervo High student Jeremiah Brogden, a 17-year-old, was shot outside of the school during dismissal. He died at the hospital.

Then, later that night, a 14-year-old was killed following a football game in Milford Mill.

Those close to Brogden told WMAR-2 News he was a son, an athlete, a big brother and a young father.

He was shot as he was leaving school by a teen from another Baltimore City school who was waiting in the schoolyard with a gun.

READ MORE: Police identify student shot and killed by teen from another school during dismissal at Mervo High

Now, those who knew Brogden are left heartbroken.

“I don’t know any other way to explain it, it just broke me where I stood,” said Lenise White, Director of Operations for Baltimore College School for Boys.

Before Brogden transferred to Mervo High, he was a student at Baltimore Collegiate School for Boys -- a school aimed at prepping young men across the city before they head to high school.

MORE: Two teenagers killed within hours of each other

Brogden played basketball there for coach Evan Singleton.

“It was shocking on so many levels, still processing,” Singleton said. “I don’t know if it’s fully hit me yet. I think about his friends, his younger brother, the people that talked with him every day.”

Lenise White was a like a school mom at Baltimore Collegiate School for Boys.

She told WMAR-2 News that receiving the news of Brogden’s death felt like she personally lost her own son. “I couldn’t talk to the students I was with without crying,” White said.

White said Brogden was always silly and playful, but was respectful.

“He was very compassionate and helpful and he was a really strong leader even at his age,” White said.

Singleton added that Brogden was a leader, and came to school ready to learn.

“People wanted to be like Jeremiah,” Singleton said. “They wanted to do he wanted to do. They wanted to wear the clothes he wore. One thing about him, he came to school every day with his shirt and tie and was ready to learn.”

White agreed.

“He was very compassionate and helpful and he was a really strong leader even at his age,” White said.

Singleton said Brogden, a junior at Mervo High, had a God-given ability both in the classroom and on the field.

He was a running back on the Mervo High football team.

“He was one of the smartest kids I’ve ever met in terms of just knowing how to navigate the world,” Singleton said. “He was wise beyond his years.”

As gun violence plagues Baltimore City, particularly among youth and schools, Barney Wilson, principal at Baltimore Collegiate School for Boys said it’s a heavy burden to carry but it’s the youth seeing it at eye level that make it all worth withstanding.

“Even without own sadness, our job is still there,” Wilson said. “We still have to motivate, to inspire, to provide hope that there is a future and we just hope that our boys and our girls are able to have a future. We’d like for this senseless killing to stop.”

Though they're just getting back to school, I has already been an intense week for students at Mervo.

So the district said on Tuesday September 6 begins 'recovery week' for the high school.

While staff returns at normal time, students are invited to lunch at 11a.m. where the school will host grade-level counseling hubs from 12 p.m. to 2:30pm.

On Wednesday, the school will have a staggered opening with seniors reporting for class at 7:45 a.m., juniors at 9 a.m. and freshmen and sophomores begin at 10 a.m.

There is also a virtual community meeting on Tuesday that starts at 5:30. For a link to the meeting, click here.