Vigil held for 15-year-old girl killed at Mount Trashmore

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — Sunday afternoon, dozens of people gathered at Mount Trashmore to remember the life of Jeyani.

The young girl, at only 15 years old, was shot and killed at Mount Trashmore last week.

Keith Heckstall, a close family friend, thought back to when he first found out about the tragedy, saying his son was the one who told him that someone was shot by the carnival.

“I did some investigation because I have a 15-year-old also and in that investigation, I end up getting another call from a friend saying that it was my friend’s daughter,” Heckstall said.

The next call to his friend was one he made with a heavy heart.

“I immediately contacted him to comfort him as much as I possibly could and not much you could say in a situation like that but, ‘I’m here,’” Heckstall said.

So then, he called local activist Darrell Redmond to help set up an event to honor Jeyani’s life at the place where it was taken too soon.

“When I got a call from the friend of the father and said this is something that they wanted to do, it was a no brainer,” Redmond said.

Mount Trashmore isn’t a place people associate with crime and violence, but Redmond said this shows that tragedies can happen anywhere.

“So what we have to understand is that this is an our problem,” Redmond said. “It’s not a city problem, it’s not a local problem, it’s an our problem.”

The lasting message of the vigil was for parents to watch their children, hold them and cherish them.