Jayden McCain

A 17-year-old boy died after being gunned down Friday night near Florissant in unincorporated north St. Louis County. Jayden McCain was shot shortly before 10 p.m. in the 1800 block of High Sun Drive, according to the St. Louis County Police Department. Jayden, who lived in the same area at Sunset Park Condominiums, was found in a parking lot and later died at the hospital, officials said. Police said three boys, ages 15, 16 and 17, were in custody Saturday at St. Louis County Family Court for second-degree murder. Kaitlyn Phelps, 24, who shared her condo with Jayden, said she didn’t know the three boys, nor why they may have shot him. “He wasn’t the kind of kid in trouble,” said Phelps. She said she ran outside Friday night after a car drove by and fired several shots. She found Jayden on the ground. “By the time I got down there, he wasn’t breathing on his own,” she said. “Dispatch had me perform CPR on him until the ambulance arrived.” She said there was a handgun on the ground by Jayden. She wasn’t sure if it was his, but she said he often carried a gun at night. “He had it for self-defense,” she said. Phelps said Jayden lived with her for a little over a year. She said both of his parents had died years before and he needed a place to stay. She said he attended Hazelwood West High School and was going to buy a vehicle with money he earned working for his grandfather. “He was a good kid,” said his half-sister, Mya Holland, 20. “He had a lot of plans and goals. He wasn’t mean.” She said he grew up in various parts of St. Louis and St. Charles counties.