‘We can’t control the city’: Family and football coach hoping for change after 11-year-old shot and killed

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) - On Tuesday night, 11-year-old Deon Sargent was shot near the corner of 68th and Silver Spring and later died at the hospital.
According to Milwaukee police, a 13-year-old was arrested in connection to the shooting.
“At such a young age, a lot of lives are now changed, and these are children, they had their whole lives ahead of them,” Deon’s grandma, Kelli Thomas, said.
Thomas was one of several family members at a vigil Wednesday night, where the family was joined by football teammates and coaches.
“We try to avoid these situations the best we can,” CLE Panthers football coach Corey Collins said. “We can’t control the city.”
Collins was Deon’s 9U coach and won a championship with him. He said Deon was a leader on the field, which is part of the reason why friends and family called him “Mister.”
“That could have progressed all the way to college, to the NFL, somewhere, with the way his passion was for the sport. And it’s just sad to hear at 11 years old that’s just gone now,” Collins said.
Collins says the last 24 hours for the family have been filled with chaos and tears and hopes other families don’t have to go through the same pain.
“We have to be careful what our children are exposed to, we have to be careful of what they see, we have to be careful of who we have them around and the examples we are setting in front of our children,” Collins said. “They are sponges, they pick up everything.”