Shaquille O’Neal is stepping up to cover the funeral cost for 3-year-old Devin Page Jr., who was hit and killed by a stray bullet Tuesday night while sleeping in his home in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. According to WBRZ, the family said O’Neal reached out with the help of local activists and offered to pay for the funeral. The retired NBA legend, who attended Louisiana State University, is partnering with Greater Beulah Baptist Church to provide the service.
Police said Devin was hit when a gunfight broke out between two people in front of the child’s home. Investigators, who are still searching for suspects, said one of the bullets went through the boy’s bedroom window and struck him while he was sleeping in his bed on Tuesday.
“Until it happens to you, until the gun is shot at your house, you know, until the bullets come through your window, you don’t get involved. You have nothing to say,” the child’s grandmother, Cathy Toliver, said, according to KSLA News 12. “But you don’t want this feeling that we have right now. You don’t want the feeling of knowing that you’ll never see your grandbaby or your son again. You don’t want that feeling.”
Devin’s mother, Tye Toliver, said the family tried to move after continuously hearing gunshots at night in recent weeks. However, the family was required to pay thousands of dollars to move.
“I try to stick it out. Now that I stick it out, this is the outcome of what happened. My son got killed,” Toliver said.
Devin had recently started preschool and he loved playing with his siblings, according to the family.
O’Neal has pulled off similar acts of generosity several times. In 2017, he offered to cover the funeral costs for Malachi Hemphill, a 13-year-old Georgia native who was streaming on Instagram Live when he accidentally killed himself with a gun, Bleacher Report reports. The former Los Angeles Lakers superstar also paid for the funeral of 5-year-old Shaniya Davis, a North Carolina girl who was kidnapped and killed in 2009, according to ESPN.
