Leslie said she recalls seeing Jadun’s phone hit the ground and overheard someone yell, “They just shot that boy up!”

“Somebody accidentally kicked the phone, and I see his head just roll, and his hand curled up,” she told KSDK.

When the paramedics arrived, they found him bleeding from gunshot wounds and rushed him to the hospital. He succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead at the hospital, according to Fox 2 News.

As Leslie prepares for her son’s funeral, she said she is suffering but relies on her strength.

“I’m struggling, but I have the strength. It’s like it’s here, and I have to do what’s necessary,” she said.

Jadun’s had a bright future ahead of him, his mom shared. He had studied engineering and planned to follow in his mother’s footsteps as a community leader.

Leslie works for the local Urban League to empower minority families in St. Louis to achieve “economic self-reliance, social equality and civil rights,” according to the organization’s website. She also lends her time to Better Family Life, a nonprofit that aids families in inner city neighborhoods.

“To see all of his friends come to me and tell me exactly what I was teaching him. He was on my mission. I thought he wasn’t listening to me,” she said.

As of Thursday, the shooters have not been identified or arrested.

Leslie-Byrd

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