Funeral services for a Clayton County teenager killed during a New Year’s Eve armed robbery attempt will be Saturday.
Cherish Williams' funeral will be held at World Changers Church International at 2 p.m. to accomodate an overflow of family, friends and classmates from Mundy's Mill High School, where the 18-year-old was expected to graduate this Spring.
“Cherish was a really popular girl at Mundy’s mill,” said Vic Bolton, a minister at World Changers who will officiate at her funeral. “Her home church couldn’t accomodate the expected number (of mourners). So the family approached World Changers about holding the funeral service.”
The funeral will be held in the World Changers’ 1,200-seat chapel. The Mundy’s Mill Band is slated to perform at the funeral. Williams played the trombone when she was a member of the high school band.
“That was her favorite thing. Music,” Bolton said.
Williams was killed Dec. 31, just hours before the New Year after three gunmen approached she and two friends as they sat in a car listening to music at Independence Park in Jonesboro. The shooting occurred about 7:40 p.m. The three men ordered Williams and her friends to get out of the car and to hand over their belongings, according to police. One of the men fired a shot that hit Williams. The three men ran. Williams died shortly after at a hospital.
On Thursday, classmates, teachers and faculty remembered Williams as a bright, funny young woman who was “the pulse” of the school.
“She was a leader. She impacted a lot of people,” Victoria Martin, a guidance counselor at Mundy’s Mill, said.
Williams is the seventh young person in Clayton between the ages of 11 and 18 to die from gun violence since October. Clayton police said at a recent news conference they have leads in the case.
One of the men involved in the crime was wearing a “red Nike hoodie that he had pulled tightly around his face,” Maj. Kevin Roberts said Tuesday at a news conference. “I believe it exposed possible long hair and dreadlocks.”
World Changers is at 2500 Burdette Rd. in College Park.
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