Valley Christian Schools thank community for support following shooting death of student
Valley Christian Schools have released a statement addressing the shooting death of one of their students Saturday night.
15-year-old Amya Monserrat was killed after a fight erupted in gunfire at a party at Martha's Boulevard Tavern at the corner of Southern Boulevard and Ravenwood Avenue.
Valley Christian Schools were closed Monday following the shooting, and re-opened Tuesday. The school released a statement, thanking the community for the outpour of support.
The statement reads:
"Psalm 34:17-18; "The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; He delivers them from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit".We stand on this promise for Amya's mom and family as they go through this time of grief and sorrow.
As we continue to grieve ("not as those without hope") the loss of our student, and classmate Amya Monserrat, our students returned to school on Tuesday, April 18th for a time of prayer, healing, and counseling. We were overwhelmed and humbled by the outpouring of love and support we received from our community. I cannot adequately express our appreciation for everyone who came to our campus yesterday. We could not have met the many needs of our students without the assistance of grief counselors, area clergy, community leaders, representatives of the Mayor's office, and CIRV, who "showed up." I know our students felt safe, secure, and loved just by seeing so many caring adults in the hallways and their classrooms. We saw, firsthand, how our community comes together in times of tragedy. We realize Tuesday was just the beginning of the healing process for our school community. Because of the generous offering of time and talent from our community, we will be able to continue offering counseling services, as needed, to the students for the remainder of the school year.
As Christians, we know that God can, and does, bring good out of tragedy. We have already seen that from reports yesterday of students accepting Christ and rededicating their lives to Christ. In addition, our students have already begun to discuss ways that they can address the problem of youth and gun violence that affects our community. As we saw yesterday in the pleading our some of the local officials for change, our prayer is that Amya's death will be forever memorialized as the start of real change in our community.
"With God, all things are possible" (Matt 19:26)"
Police say the shooting happened shortly before 11 p.m. Saturday, as a birthday party was wrapping up. At some point, a person pulled a gun and began firing. Monserrat was struck and killed in the crossfire.
Youngstown Police Detectives are currently working with witnesses to identify any suspects in the shooting, and during a press conference Monday, detectives urged anyone who knew anything about the shooting to come forward.
Funeral arrangements are being handled by L.E. Black, Philips and Holden Funeral Home.