On July 29, 14-year-old basketball star Semaj Miller was gunned down in South Los Angeles.
At six-foot-seven-inches tall, the Compton teenager was expected to go far with the L.A. City Wildcats, an association that helped launch the career of NBA player James Harden.
Now the community is mourning his loss.
"Semaj was such a talented kid who lost his life too soon," Rapper Percy “Master P” Miller, a coach and part-owner of the team, told Cheddar. "We have to stop this senseless killing, gun violence in our community. It's not the police. This is us killing us."
Miller lamented that gun violence is robbing the next generation of its talent, as well as those who could find success and come back and invest in their communities.
"This kid could have been the next LeBron James, could have been the next James Harden," he said. "We'll never get to know how talented this kid could have been."
Stepping outside of the rhetoric used in recent protests against police violence, the rapper said it was the responsibility of citizens to stop the violence in their own communities.
"I know we're out here protesting for Black Lives Matter, but my thing is, 'Okay, our kids matter,'" he said. "This is our future."
Miller didn't outline specific preventive measures but emphasized parenting and education.
"It's got to start in our community. We have to stand up for these kids. We have to protect them. We have to educate them," he said.
In 2021, Americans reported losses from so-called romance scams hit an all-time high of $547 million, or six times the total losses in 2017, according to the FTC.
Hank the Tank strikes again. The 500-pound black bear that has damaged more than 30 properties around Lake Tahoe last week broke into yet another home in its endless quest for a quick meal.
A gemstone, billed as one of the largest gem-quality opals in existence, has been sold for nearly $144,000 at auction in Alaska on Sunday.
The three men convicted of murder in Ahmaud Arbery’s fatal shooting have been found guilty of federal hate crimes.
U.S. women soccer players have reached a landmark agreement with the sport’s American governing body to end a six-year legal battle over equal pay.
These are the headlines you Need2Know for Tuesday, February 22, 2022.
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