Light Skin. Nice eyes. Bright smile. Fifteen years old, he was just starting his life.
“That was my baby,” Towanda Kellam, Lance “Duke” Hartgrove’s mother, was quoted as saying after the death of her son last summer.
The flashpoint, as often happens these days, was a festering Facebook feud that ended on the street. Hartgrove’s days were ended by a stab wound to the chest, piercing his left lung and heart, allegedly committed by Rula Jones, 19, that caused Hartgrove to collapse and die in a parking lot on Malcolm X Boulevard, in Roxbury.
At press time, Jones and his brother, Ilm Jones, 20, who allegedly assisted him in the attack, were both awaiting trial on manslaughter charges, according to the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office.
This young teen, Hartgrove, of Dorchester, was very much known in the city of Boston. He got along with most people who came his way, and was friends with teens from across many neighborhoods.
“He is a good boy to be around and he is caring and a loving person,” said an 18-year-old from Dorchester whose name -- like other teens in this article -- is being withheld for safety reasons.
Hanging out and living every moment like it was his last was Hartgrove’s way of the game, teens say. Always around to put a smile on someone’s face.
“Even on your worst day,” said an 18-year-old from Dorchester.
In the little time Hartgrove was here, he made his imprint on people’s hearts.
“He’s really cool,” said a 16-year-old from Dorchester. “And he’s not one of those people that tries to check you [out] if he doesn’t know you. He’s an awesome person to hang out with.”
After Hartgrove’s death, teens and others tattooed his name on their bodies. They put up visuals on YouTube. They recorded songs in his honor.
Hartgrove will always live in these streets of Boston, teens say. Every July 10, the anniversary of his death, will be a hard time for them.
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