Pastors from several churches across Mesquite, Texas, came together this week to comfort the mother of a 16-year-old boy murdered Saturday.
Mesquite Mayor Dan Aleman, who is also a pastor, told Shanika Palmer he would “continue to pray” for her in the wake of her son’s tragic death. He reminded her she is “not alone” and that “God is with” her.
Aleman then presided over what he called an “hour of prayer” for Palmer and her family, during which pastors from various churches around the city prayed, according to WFAA-TV.
“Lord, this was a violent weekend in our city,” prayed one pastor. “And we say, ‘No more!’”
Ministers from a handful of churches passed a microphone around and prayed for Palmer and her family. At the end of the service at Cornerstone Baptist Church on Monday night, the pastors and those gathered for the prayer service sang “Amazing Grace.”
What happened?
Key’Mydre Palmer Anderson, 16, had reportedly finished his shift at a nearby Sonic restaurant at around 5:15 p.m., at which point he went to the grocery store with his grandmother.
Speaking to reporters in her front yard Monday, Palmer said that, sometime between 6:30 and 6:45 that evening, her teenage son left the house and got into a vehicle with someone she believes he knew.
Roughly half an hour later, at 7:05 p.m., the Mesquite Police Department received a 911 call.
Officer Jolyn Lopez said the call came from bystanders who thought they had witnessed a car accident. In reality, though, “it wasn’t an accident,” the officer explained.
Palmer learned at about 10:40 that night that her son died at a local hospital.
“Everybody that knows Key’Mydre knows he was the sweetest person he could be,” she told reporters earlier Monday. “That’s my firstborn.”
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