Family and friends of 16-year-old Timothy Barnes Jr., a Central Gwinnett High School student fatally shot Tuesday morning at a school bus stop, will gather Friday evening for a vigil in his honor.
In an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, members of Barnes’ family said they once thought of his suspected shooter, 17-year-old Serar Shakiib Abdi, as a friend.
“They were friends. They went trick-or-treating on the 31st,” Barnes’ cousin, LaShauna Dukes, told the AJC.
According to Dukes, Barnes and Abdi spent time at each other’s houses and had been joking with one another on the bus Monday. Then, the joking turned serious and escalated into a fight, she said. Barnes won the fight, which Dukes believes embarrassed Abdi. The next morning, Barnes was ambushed as the school bus was pulling up to his stop.
Barnes was taken to the hospital in critical condition and later died. Abdi was arrested on multiple charges, including aggravated assault, and booked into the Gwinnett County Jail. Following Barnes’ death, Abdi was also charged with malice murder.
The family will hold a vigil for Barnes at 7:30 p.m. at Rhodes Jordan Park on Crogan Street in Lawrenceville. As of Friday afternoon, no funeral arrangements had been made.
“We sent Timothy off to school with the expectation of him arriving home,” Dukes said. “This has been a very traumatic experience to us, to the bus driver and to all the students who witnessed it.”
Barnes was shot in the head as his school bus arrived at his stop. The bus driver had an anxiety attack from the driver’s seat, according to Dukes. The 16-year-old was just three doors down from his house.
Abdi was arrested the same day as the shooting, the AJC reported. Dukes said she wanted to thank the Lawrenceville Police Department for their fast response and for making a quick arrest.
Nicknamed “Tim Tim,” Barnes was described as a friendly, likable teenager who held a job and loved sports. He was on track to graduate the next school year and worked at McDonald’s in Grayson, where he was popular with his co-workers, Dukes said.
“He was a huge fan of Alabama (football) and the Seattle Seahawks,” she said. “He always played sports since he was young. He was very well-loved, very quiet, laid back, very humble.”
Barnes, the youngest of five siblings, “was not a troubled child,” according to Dukes. She said it wasn’t like him to pick fights. He never mentioned the fight to his mother, Latoya Nicholson, who was completely shocked when Barnes was killed.
In her grief, Nicholson wanted to convey a message to other parents.
“Love on your children a lot more these days,” she said. “Keep your child close to you. Have those conversations, and make sure you know what your child is going through.”
A GoFundMe page has been created to help Barnes’ family with funeral costs and other final arrangements.
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