Butler High honors murdered football player
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - Butler Hugh School honored a 15-year-old football player who was murdered on April 6.
Zaire Person was killed in a shooting in the 3400 block of Old McDuffie Road.
In a ceremony before Friday’s game against KIPP Atlanta Collegiate, there was a balloon release to honor the victim of the crime that remains unsolved.
It’s been five months since he was killed, but the memories are still fresh.
“I still have his toothbrush at my house when he stayed. I can’t throw his toothbrush. His phone is still connected because I won’t turn it off but I’m still paying the phone bill you know because I can’t turn it off,” said Tanya Borders, Zaire’s grandmother.
He was killed during a large splat party involving waterguns that took place at several locations in the Augusta area and ended on Old McDuffie Road.
But someone instead opened fire at the party, killing the teenager who loved to play video games and was looked up to by his brothers.
His family and friends have spent everyday since his death looking for justice.
“I do believe that eventually the people whose responsible for Ziare not being here are going to pay for what they’ve done,” his grandmother said.
And they say ability isn’t just up to law enforcement.
“It keeps happening to somebody else’s kid, every few weeks is somebody else’s kid in somebody else’s kid, you know, and people need to take ability for what they do. And these parents need to take ability for what their kids do,” she said.
His teammates say it felt like a piece was missing without him on the field.
“It’s crazy because you never know when you’ll be gone, you gotta live in the moment,” said Andrease Garner, one of his closest friends and teammates.
For now, they are waiting for answers and thinking about him everyday.
“Oh he was a great brother he would do anything with you. He would spend more time playing games and playing outside with you than with his friends. He would always make sure that you were ok when you were feeling bad. He would always take care of you,” said his brother, Zah’ki Cunninghan.
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