Remembering Deshaun Hill: North High basketball team honors player killed in Minneapolis shooting
North High players wore the number 9 to honor Deshaun Hill. (FOX 9)
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - A basketball gym in north Minneapolis was packed on Saturday as the basketball team and members of the community showed up in droves to remember Deshaun Hill, a star athlete at North High who was gunned down on Wednesday.
Hill died a day after shots rang out along Penn Avenue North in Minneapolis, just blocks from the school. His loss sent a ripple through the community, with friends, family, coaches, and former teachers honoring the star athlete who played quarterback on the North High football team.
Remembering Deshaun Hill: North High basketball team honors player killed in Minneapolis shooting
A basketball gym in north Minneapolis was packed on Saturday as the basketball team and members of the community showed up in droves to remember Deshaun Hill, a star athlete at North High who was gunned down on Wednesday.
"He is a legend his name is forever lived he was really going places," said classmate Kamiya Mangun.
Deshaun Hill Jr. was an honor roll student at Minneapolis North High.
"He will get on you if you ain’t in class too he was all about his schoolwork," said Mangun.
But it was his talent on the playing field that made the star athlete the pride of his community, a budding star, who was leading by example for the class of 2024.
"He was so, so good, he was going to takeoff," added Mangun.
"Our children are hurting, our children are in trauma, our children are living in fear," said coach Larry McKenzie.
"There is something so deeply wrong about what has happened to our #9, to our D-Hill," said Mauri Melander Friestleben.
At just 15 years old, the sophomore was already the starting quarterback on the Polars varsity football team. He was also a key player on the basketball court and this weekend the game went on.
Watching from half court, Deshaun’s family felt the support of an entire city.
"When you think about good parents the two of you come to everybody’s mind," said Friestleben.
Also in attendance was Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison. "Us adults have got to get these guns off the street, we’ve got to solve our disputes without gunplay, without violence," said Ellison.
As of Saturday, police say they do not have any updates on the search for Hill’s killer.