LaJuan Swopes

LaJuan Swopes, at just 13, worked hard in a lawn care business with his brothers and cousins to raise money to buy clothing. He was a sharp dresser, his mother said. "My baby got up every morning looking forward to going to school, getting up and dressing himself nice," said his mother, Jennifer Macone. "He took pride in his looks." LaJuan was killed Tuesday night in Ferguson in a shooting that also critically injured another teen. A boy, also 13, is charged with second-degree murder and first-degree assault. The incident happened after a high school track meet. LaJuan's mother said that his death is unbearable for her and her four other sons. It comes after other family tragedies, including the 2020 murder of the children's father in St. Louis and a devastating house fire last year in which they "lost everything." Detectives are still trying to pin down a motive for LaJuan's death. They haven't been able to access the phones of the teens involved, police said Thursday. Police said they aren't looking for any other suspects. Macone said she wants to forgive the gunman, who she refers to as a "baby" because of his young age. "I have empathy for him and I'm showing mercy for that baby," she said. "I'm still a mother of five boys that I have to raise up on St. Louis streets. I'm just kind of all over the place that this happened." "I just hate that this had to be the situation for two young babies," Macone said. "I hate my son lost his life to this violence, and that that baby took a life and could lose his life to the system." LaJuan, whose nickname was "JuanJuan," was an eighth grader at Brittany Woods Middle School in University City. He lived with his family in the Castle Point neighborhood of north St. Louis County. The double shooting was around 7 p.m. in the parking lot of STEAM Academy at McCluer South-Berkeley High School, at 201 Brotherton Lane in Ferguson. The shooting followed a regional track meet that was held for freshmen and sophomore students from about 20 area schools. Two coaches saw teens square off in the parking lot, readying to fight, while others pulled out their phones to record it. Before the coaches could intervene, someone pulled a gun and started shooting. Police arrested the suspect a block away and recovered a gun. Macone said LaJuan was excited about middle school graduation, set for May 27, the day after he was to turn 14. "And he was looking forward to putting his outfit together, for him 'to be trim,'" Macone said.