Aycock students honor lost classmate
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on June 1, 2006 1:55 PM
Hundreds are expected to attend funeral services tonight for a well-liked student athlete at Charles B. Aycock High School who died Monday morning after being shot in the chest.
John Paul Setliff, 17, was taken to Wayne Memorial Hospital after the 2:35 a.m. shooting, where he died around 10 a.m. while undergoing surgery, according to police reports.
A fellow student has been charged. Tim Alston, 17, a junior at the school, was originally charged with assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury. When Setliff died, Alston's charge was upgraded to murder.
The incident has sent shockwaves through the Aycock community. Officials had a crisis team of school counselors and psychologists on hand at the school Monday, said Ken Derksen, public information director for Wayne County Public Schools.
Principal Eddie Radford said, "All the kids are experiencing sorrow and all of them have fond memories of (Setliff)."
Students have already created a memorial at Setliff's parking space at the school. There are also plans to remember him during what would have been his graduation ceremony, Radford said. "He was a kid that everybody liked and he liked everybody; he got along really well with everyone," he said. "He played football ... he was just a well-rounded kid."
The school is grieving, he said, but "they're pulling together. They're just a good group of kids that have lost a friend."
Funeral services will be held tonight at 6 at Pikeville Pentecostal Free Will Baptist Church.