The sanctuary at Jackson Memorial Baptist Church was full of mourners clad in pink and white on Saturday afternoon as a community came together to say their final goodbyes to Bre’Asia Powell, a teen who was shot and killed last week.
The 16-year-old rising junior at Benjamin E. Mays High School was remembered by family and friends as a loving daughter, a star athlete who played basketball and volleyball and an outstanding student who wanted to become a coach and mentor so she could use her love for sports to transform the lives of young people.
Mourners, who wore shirts emblazoned with Bre’Asia’s pictures that said “Forever Our Superstar” and “Bre Forever,” were overcome with grief several times during the service. Young people made up nearly half of those who had come to remember Bre’Asia.
Before they closed Bre’Asia’s casket, her mother kissed her and told her she loved her and was proud of her. She fainted as the casket closed, leading several in the audience to break down in tears, some speaking in tongues and others needing medical assistance.
Latonya Brooks, who went to high school with Bre’Asia’s mother and whose daughter became friends with her when she was a young cheerleader with Bre’Asia at the recreation center in Adamsville, said Bre’Asia was always in high spirits and fun to be around.
“This is really hard because I’m a mother,” Brooks said. “I would have never expected something like this to happen to her. ... I know it’s not my child. But when I look at her in that casket, it’s like I’m looking at my own daughter.”
Atlanta police responded at around 2:30 a.m. Sunday and found two teens had been shot outside her school, where an unauthorized gathering had taken place. The other shooting victim was taken to a hospital and was in stable condition.
Bre’Asia was expected to start working for the city of Atlanta this past week in its summer youth employment program.
Family friends and other speakers, including Atlanta rappers Young Dro and Lil Baby, pleaded with Bre’Asia’s friends and classmates to stop the violence that’s plagued the city.
Earlier this year, Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens launched the “Year of the Youth” in an effort to help curb violence affecting city’s young people.In 2022, 19 children and teens were among the city’s 170 homicide victims. Shootings during the 2022 holiday season killed four under age 18.
“Young people, and I’m including myself, we got to change,” Lil Baby said. “I’m only here because we need to come up with a plan and I’m here to help with a plan.”
Douglas Smith, who works with Bre’Asia’s mother Necole Williams, told young people who may be heading down a path of violence or crime that there was still time for them to turns their lives around.
“Choices are free, consequences are costly,” he said.
Bre’Asia was one of three people killed, with at least eight others injured in separate shootings across metro Atlanta on Memorial Day weekend.
Between 2019 and 2021, the number of children and teens killed by bullets increased 50% in the United States, according to a Pew Research Center study. Firearm-related injuries are the leading cause of death among children and teens between ages 1 and 19. The majority of gun deaths among children were homicides, the study found.
Atlanta police have said the Crime Stoppers reward for information in the fatal shooting is $10,000.
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