Parents Call For Justice After Death Of Md. Football Player Paralyzed In Shooting
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Larry Aaron, a 19-year-old college football player from Howard County, had his whole life ahead of him. He was shot at a crowded New Year's Eve party and died a month later.
WJZ spoke with Aaron's parents about their heartbreaking loss and their message for their son's killer who remains on the loose.
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January 1, 2018, just as the new year began, a party in Anne Arundel County took a terrifying turn when gunfire erupted.
Aaron, a Marshall University football player and Columbia native, shielded his girlfriend from harm and was shot in the back.
"In my 40 years plus of coaching football teams, I've never seen a young man be in a place for such a short period of time and affect a football team like your son did," says Doc Holliday, Marshall University football head coach.
Aaron was rushed to Shock Trauma where he survived but was paralyzed from the waist down.
One month later, an emotional Aaron attended a basketball game in his honor at his high school Oakland Mills.
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But tragedy struck again, and just weeks later, Aaron died from complications from his gunshot wound.
His parents, Larry Sr. and Melissa, spoke with WJZ about their devastating loss.
[Reporter: Can you describe, at all, what it was like when you realized that he was not going to survive?]
"Talking about that part is very hard, as a parent would know. He was only 19-years-old. He had a lot of life to give. Great kid, great, and then for something like this to happen to him," Larry Sr. said.
RELATED: Md. Football Player Paralyzed From Shooting Passes Away
Months after the shooting still no arrests, no answers. Police say no one will talk.
[Reporter: What would you say to the young man or persons who were responsible for what occurred that night?"]
"I just hope that this individual would turn himself in. How could you live out there and go on with life knowing that you took a life? How?
All I know is, I'm angry right now that all this is going on and my son didn't deserve this," Larry Sr. said.
[Reporter: You want this person caught. You want justice to be done.]
"Yes, I do. Yes, I do. Justice to be done. No other way. The fullest the law will allow. He needs to be punished for what he did," Larry Sr. said.
[Reporter: What do you think, you call him "L", right? What would you think "L" would want people to know now?]
"'I'm good.' That's what he would say. Everyone who called him and talked to him, the first thing he would say was, 'I'm good, don't worry about me,'" Melissa said.
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[Reporter: What's going to get you through this?]
"God is going to get us through, family and love is going to get us through this," Larry Sr. said.
Detectives continue to interview party-goers and possible witnesses. Anyone with information is urged to call their tip line at 410-222-4700.
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