'It hurt the team': Milwaukee Lutheran football player honored by teammates, family at vigil after deadly shooting on Easter Sunday

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Family members and friends of a 17-year-old Milwaukee student released balloons into the sky Monday, April 21, to remember his life. 

According to family members, 17-year-old Donell Jones was shot and killed at a party near 23rd and Townsend just after 3 a.m. on Easter morning. Tawanda Staten, Jones' mother, said her son was at a party when shots were fired, hitting him and one other person. Milwaukee police say another 20-year-old person was injured.

“My son wasn’t the first, and he won’t be the last to be a victim of gun violence," Staten said at Monday's vigil, surrounded by her loved ones. “It’s a blessing to see everybody coming out showing their support, their condolences.”

Jones was a senior and a football player at Milwaukee Lutheran High School, set to graduate next month. He planned to study medicine at Northern Illinois University.

At Monday's vigil, Jones' teammates and friends gathered together to remember the quiet running back who spent hours training for the sport.

“He was the only one who came to the weight room after school, all the summer workouts," said Zaire Hatchett, one of Jones' teammates. “It’s really sad to hear, it hurt the team a lot.”

“He wanted a future. A football future," said Travis Clark, a family friend of Donell Jones. "It’s kind of crazy because you look at Wisconsin having the NFL Draft, something he would have envisioned that he would have wanted to achieve.”

In a statement shared with CBS 58, school leaders at Milwaukee Lutheran High School said Jones was loved by his teachers and coaches.

Milwaukee Lutheran is holding a special chapel service to honor Donell’s life on Tuesday, April 22, where there will also be grief counselors and pastors to support students. 

Milwaukee police are looking for an unknown suspect.