"It's unbelievable:" Loved ones remember Golda Meir student, shot and killed over the weekend

 

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- A young man on track to graduate from Golda Meir High School is dead after being shot over the weekend.

Jakeem Sims mother says he was her youngest of four. While she's planning his funeral, students and teachers at Golda Meir are remembering him this week as Milwaukee Police continue the search for his killer.

Vera Sims says she spent the whole morning at home with her son on Saturday. Around 1 p.m. in the afternoon, he told her that he'd be right back.

"He never came back," Vera said.

By 6 p.m. that evening, Milwaukee Police told her that someone shot him and that he crashed into a tree on 19th and Eggert Place.

"My son was humble, he was brilliant, he was real smart."

Jakeem had just turned 18 earlier in the month, finishing up his senior year in high school.

"I just knew he needed to be in a different environment if he was going to thrive the way that I wanted him to thrive."

Jakeem was wearing a bracelet that said "I applied to college" when he died. He had gotten it on a field trip two days before.

"Everybody wore pink on Monday which is his favorite color to show support."

His teacher Ryan Thompson was with him on the field trip.

"It's really difficult to come to terms with the fact that I won't see him again, especially since I have seen him pretty much every school day for three years. It's just so sad and unfortunate," said Engineering Teacher Ryan Thompson.

Jakeem had planned to go to trade school to be a welder and then to college to become an electrical engineer. Both Thompson and his mother say he would have succeeded if he had gotten the chance.

"It's unbelievable that my son is dead and I am saying that because Jakeem didn't deserve to die like that. But that goes to show that you don't have to be a drug dealer. You don't have to be a criminal. My son was going to be somebody."

If you would like to donate to the family's fundraiser for Jakeem, click here.

If you know anything about this shooting, you're asked to call the Milwaukee Police Department.