KANSAS CITY, Mo — From North Carolina to Kansas and Missouri, 12-year-old Jerel McGeachy, Jr. made an immeasurable impact on anyone he met.
He was a student at Congress Middle School in the Park Hill School District and known for reciting the speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
"I may be young, but I am somebody," he said as he spoke at an event for the Unified Government of Wyandotte County.
Jerel Jr. was killed in a murder-suicide, along with his mother and father.
A preliminary investigation found Jerel Jr. and his mother died from gunshot wounds.
His father died from a self-inflicted gun shot wound.
Before his tragic death, McGeachy Jr. proved there isn't an age when you're supposed to start reaching for the sky.
With his speaking skills, he wowed audiences and proved he was more than a 12-year-old kid.
Na'shell Williams heard him and had to let him know of the future he had waiting.
"I walked up and said, 'Young man, I just want your name and signature and I want you to know one day you're going to be one of the most famous young men in the world," Williams said.
Williams connected with Jerel Jr.'s family before realizing she and Jerel Jr.'s mother, Domonique McGeachy, had something in common: Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.
After Williams heard him speak, the two sorority sisters checked in with each other and she found out the latest news on what Jerel Jr. was doing.
"Domonique McGeachy was a mother of all mothers," Williams said. "She loved her baby. She entrusted her baby, lifted, motivated and inspired her baby, but a lot of people don't know she prayed over her baby and that he was connected to God first."
Behind great kids are often great parents.
Williams said Jerel Jr.'s mother always wanted her son's light to shine bright, even if his star shined brighter than hers.
"You would think this kid truly came directly from heaven into their lap," Williams said.
Williams thought one day Jerel Jr. would take the world by storm.
At his age, he captivated, he dreamed and always reached for the mountaintop.
"I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight, we as a people will get to the promised land," Jerel Jr. recited.
