Elijah DeWitt Wiki – Elijah DeWitt Biography
hen Elijah DeWitt was a baby, he skipped the long naps that were normal for his age. The habit worried her mother, Dawn DeWitt, to the point that she asked her pediatrician if anything was wrong. Her response, she recalls to The Independent, was: “Miss DeWitt, you were born ready for life.” On October 5, 18-year-old Elijah’s life was brutally upended when he was shot in the parking lot of the Sugarloaf Mills mall in Lawrenceville, Georgia, while he was out on a date with his girlfriend of five years. Since then, two suspects in his murder have been arrested.
In the aftermath of the crime, the rising soccer star became another face of the tragedy on local and national news. But beyond the devastating circumstances in which he died, there is a macrocosm of all the things that Elijah did and embodied, says Ms. DeWitt. He was the protector of his little sister, the “perfect dream” of his aunt, the absolute love of his girlfriend and the “soul warrior” of his parents. “He was so focused on getting to the next level in soccer and doing well in school. Being in practice and exercising and taking this whole set of vitamins to be as healthy as possible,” says Ms. DeWitt.
Elijah DeWitt Age
Elijah DeWitt’s age is Unkown.
Incident Detail
“That’s Elijah, not the kid who just died in a parking lot.” Eager to shine a light on Elijah’s unwavering determination and fierce character over the crime that cut her life short, her mother chooses to navigate the pain along with forgiveness in order to make sense of the senseless tragedy.
“Justice must be done, one hundred percent, but I will not walk in anger because I cannot contain the memories, the pain and the love for Elijah in my soul right now,” she says. less than two weeks after Elijah’s death. “That just weighs me down.” Elijah was born loving sports, says his mother.
“We potty trained him by putting out a toddler basketball goal and a ball, and we let him sit there and shoot,” Ms. DeWitt fondly recalls. “He always loved [sports]. He loved to play anything with a bowl. So when he was little, he played soccer, basketball, and baseball.”
Most recently, he had been on a 4,000 to 5,000 calorie per day diet and took a full set of vitamins to keep up with the rigorous training he had committed to. On the day of his death, Elijah had asked Mrs. DeWitt to call his coach at Jefferson High School with some good news; he had received a call to visit the University of Georgia (UGA).
“Elijah was focused on wanting to be a D-1 soccer player. His ultimate goal would have been to take it to the next level and go to the NFL,” says Ms. DeWitt. “But he knew college was his next step.” Elijah was interested in studying finance and had been working with his family and coaches on making feature films of his games. UGA probably won’t be the only offer he comes up with.
He had just sat down with one of his coaches here at Jefferson and was preparing all of his stuff to roll out to other colleges,” adds Ms. DeWitt. “That consumed most of his time. They would practice in the morning and then do stuff in the afternoon, and then he would go exercise and train [more].”
Somehow, Elijah also found free time to spend with his family, his high school sweetheart, his lizard, his leper gecko and cats, and, his mother recalls with a smile, the Xbox from him. “Elijah was what I call a gentle giant. He was fierce. He was not afraid of things. He was very confident, but he was also super nice,” he tells The Independent.
“And if a kid didn’t have what he needed to wear, he’d let me know and we’d get it and put it in his locker and not say a word about it.” His laid-back personality earned him the nickname “Easy E” from NFL star Cam Newton. “He could get along with anyone, and that’s where the name ‘Easy’ came from, because he was so easy going,” says Ms. DeWitt. “But then on the football field or the basketball court, you know, he just got the job done.”
Although her son’s dreams have been cut short, Ms. DeWitt says she is choosing to focus on the memories of her son, the love the community has shown and the positives. “There was a bigger life behind a mall shooting. Her life is so much bigger than that, and that’s what’s important for me to share,” she says.Ms. DeWitt adds that she is especially appreciative of the outpouring of grief support.
The days since Elijah’s death have been easily the worst thing to happen to the DeWitt family, but they have also been filled with memorial services hosted by friends, students, football teammates and coaches who were so moved and inspired by Elijah they couldn’t fit everything they had to say about “Easy E” in one vigil. “The night Elijah died, our pastor came to the mall to support us.
Him and his wife and my daughter’s youth pastor,” Ms. DeWitt recalls. “So I told him, ‘Through this darkness, there has to be a light to this.'” Two days after the shooting, suspects Kemare Bryan, 18, and Chandler Richardson, 19, were arrested in South Carolina and have since been extradited to Georgia on felony murder charges. A motive for the attack has not been released, but police said an altercation occurred between the three teens before Elijah was shot.
A week after Elijah’s death, while unanswered questions about the circumstances remained, the family mustered whatever energy they had to attend a soccer game where their son should have been playing. “Those kids playing have been a part of our family for 12 or 13 years,” says Ms. DeWitt. “It was very difficult to go, but we wanted to support them. And then the school that we played at, they honored him and were very kind to our Jefferson [High School] family.”
For the DeWitts, it’s important to reconcile their loss and the need to do something proactive with the situation they find themselves in now. They spend a lot of time crying, Ms. DeWitt points out, reminiscing and reminiscing. There were many reminders throughout the house; her clothes, her hairbrushes, her entire room, and everything that encompassed her life.
“And I say this pain is so great that you take it, but you take it for a minute,” says Ms. DeWitt as she swallows back tears. “You fill it out and then you’re like, ‘Okay, I’ve got to do something positive.’ I just want to be positive in the most horrible situation I’ve ever experienced.” With the more than $51,000 raised on a GoFundMe page in memory of Elijah, Ms. DeWitt says the family is trying to find a way to give back. Mrs. DeWitt is also determined to help other families avoid the excruciating pain she is experiencing.
“I don’t watch the news much, but I’ve been putting it on lately because there were nights I couldn’t sleep. I would look at that screen and see him with the soccer ball in his arms and dream that he was in college,” says Ms. DeWitt. “But then I would see, oh, this shooting, this shooting, this robbery. We cannot be numb to the fact that children, people, are being killed.” “I think it’s a huge onion that’s layered big time. I don’t know the answer, but I’m going to try to be an advocate in some way if I can.
If I can help a family or a child not to go down that path, it’s one less,” she adds. As she continues to process life without Elijah, Ms. DeWitt is sure of one thing; Elijah can no longer speak, but his family can and how they represent him is important. “I try to have a very forgiving heart because the loss we have is too great to hold on to in anger,” she says. “There’s just no place.”
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