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PEORIA — A 15-year-old Peoria High School student loved his six dogs, working with his father in lawn care and the motorized scooter he took all over town.
He would play video games like "Fortnite" or "Call of Duty" and watch TikTok videos. He left glasses and dishes in his room, but he would come back to get them when it came time for him to do his chores.
In short, his family and friends said, Merian "Jack" Smith was your typical teenager who loved his family, sports and would eat just about anything.
"He was the life of the party. He was kind of goofy but funny," said his father, Adrian Burnside while sitting in his driveway. About 20 people — friends and family — had gathered to remember the young man known as Jack or JJ. In the front yard was Bella, one of the teen's six dogs. His father had one only rule.
"Take care of them and you can get more," Burnside said.
His mother, Anita Brewer, just sat quietly, the pain too great to share stories.
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Smith died Wednesday morning after being shot Monday afternoon in the 500 block of West Gift Avenue. Police responded to the area after three alerts from the ShotSpotter gunfire detection system indicated that 21 rounds had been fired.
When officers arrived on the scene, they located two boys with apparent gunshot wounds. Smith was brought to OSF HealthCare Saint Francis Medical Center with life-threatening injuries, police said. The condition of the other youth wasn't known Thursday.
Police have released very few details regarding the shooting. However, Burnside and others who gathered Thursday at his house to remember Jack said he wasn't a target.
"Wrong place, wrong time," he said repeatedly. His aunt, Latisha Bailey, said he wasn't a gang member and wasn't the type to be out running the streets. Rather, she said, like his father, Smith was a "peacemaker."
"He didn't like to see anyone fighting. He tried to work things out," she said.
Antwaun Banks agreed. The founder of Product of the Projects said Smith was a young man who had character, and leadership and was able to "hold his own with the older kids."
"Little O (Banks' nickname for Smith) had character. He would often talk about doing lawn care with his dad."
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Peoria City Councilman Andre Allen, who posted a heartfelt statement on Facebook earlier this week, said you "always knew" when Smith was there.
"I enjoyed his charisma and routine jokes, typically towards my shoes," Allen said. "It was a pleasure to watch him grow and mature from that little fifth-grader I met years ago at Sterling Middle School via our mentoring program 'The Jaguars Squad,' into the young man that was almost taller than me.
"He was one of the true leaders that we could count on within the program. He was a tone-setter for the rest of the guys."
School and athletics
Smith was doing well at Peoria High School where he was getting As and Bs, his father said. He was on the football team, ran track and just started swimming this year.
"That boy would just run and run and run," he said. "He loved to run."
And he also loved football, said his friend Dion Hill, who now attends Peoria Heights high school. Jack pulled him back into the sport and was the type of guy who on the field would encourage teammates to do better. And off the field, he was a student of the game.
"He once found a video and came from one end of the school to the other to show me the video," Hill said of his friend last year when the two were both at Central.
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But Jack also had a second love — his scooter, said his stepmother, Bibiana Enriquez. He had gotten the motorbike a few months earlier and took it everywhere. He rode around to South Peoria, up atop the bluff and into other parts of the city. When it broke, he "became a mechanic."
"It was broken for one night and he had it up and working again the next day," she said. "He Googled how to fix it."
Her husband, Adrian, said he took a wire from one of their lawnmowers and added "I came into the house and smelled gas. He was cleaning the sparkplugs. I told him to get them out of the house."
Aftermath
For now, his family and friends are left wondering why this happened to a young man who was seen as a leader and who was hoping to set up his own lawn-care business. Allen, the councilman, said the city must stay committed to its youth to protect the future.
"Combating gun violence and creating positive outlets has to be a societal priority. These stories are far too common," he said. "We were all blessed and fortunate for the short time JJ was a part of our lives. He made a lasting impact on us, that’ll exist for forever."
Smith's family wants people to know who Jack was. He was a typical teenager and had a future.
There is no suspect information. Anyone with information regarding this incident, please contact Peoria police at (309) 494-8480, or anonymously via tip411 or Crime Stoppers at (309) 673-9000.