LAKE PARK — Ricky Aiken will never forget Te'Shawn Harris’ smile.
The 17-year-old Lake Park resident kept smiling in the wake of his father’s death, when he picked up work to help his mother pay the bills and spent more time taking care of his little sister.
“This kid had so many losses in life, and where most people would have lost hope, he just refused to lose hope,” said Aiken, founder of Inner City Innovators, a nonprofit that supports at-risk children and addresses gun violence.
No one was smiling Aug. 8. Early that morning, someone shot and killed Harris, days before he was to start his senior year at William T. Dwyer High School in Palm Beach Gardens.
The fatal shooting happened outside a house on the 300 block of Sixth Street in Lake Park just before 3 a.m., according to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office. It had made no arrests as of Aug. 16 but continues to investigate Harris’ death.
A vigil honoring Harris will take place at 7 p.m. Saturday at Kelsey Park, at Park Avenue and Federal Highway in Lake Park. Aiken also has organized an online fundraiser to cover funeral costs and meals for Harris' family.
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Harris grew up in Riviera Beach and spent his freshman year at Palm Beach Gardens High before moving to Lake Park and attending Dwyer. Some of his teachers called him their favorite student. He loved to spend time with friends, play basketball and tell jokes. His signature look was wearing his hair in dreads.
For two years, Harris was a member of Hope Dealers, an Inner City Innovators mentoring program. He attended his last mentoring meeting hours before his death. The discussion question Aiken asked that night was, “How do you want to be remembered?”
Harris wanted to be remembered as a soldier — someone who pushed through and got stronger, no matter how hard life became.
Harris’ father passed away this year, Aiken said. Since then, he brought his little sister along to mentoring meetings each week, which he loved doing.
Mavis Pettway of Lake Park, Harris’ mentor, said he always looked after his little sister and wanted to be a good role model to her.
“Te'Shawn always brought joy to everybody around him,” she said. "He was the light in the room."
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David Rae, a 36-year-old Hope Dealers mentor who lives in West Palm Beach, was like an older brother to Harris.
They met about a year ago, when Harris asked to tag along to a Hope Dealers field trip to the South Florida Fair. Rae couldn't take him because Harris didn’t have any release forms filled out.
Harris was so excited that he dressed nice and walked quite a distance to reach the meeting spot.
“His disappointment was visible, but he took it like a champ,” Rae said. “He said, ‘Don’t worry, don’t stress, I totally understand.’ It was a nice intro to his spirit. He was caring, genuine and intentional.”
Rae drove him to mentoring sessions — sometimes to school when he needed it — and gave him job interview tips and other life advice.
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Harris was there for Rae in hard times, too.
“He was one of those people who, if he heard you talking bad about yourself, he would snap you out of it,” Rae said.
Rae awoke heartbroken to the news of Harris’ death. He'd just dropped him off at his house the night before and had plans to see him that day.
Rae said he never would have assumed Harris was at risk for violence.
“He lived by his heart,” Rae said. “He wasn’t a gangster and he wasn’t a criminal. It would be a tragedy for anyone to not know the truth about Te'Shawn. He was one of the brightest human beings I have ever met.”
Maya Washburn covers northern Palm Beach County for The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida-Network. Reach her atmwashburn@pbpost.com. Support local journalism:Subscribe today.
