A mourner shares a photograph during a vigil for SeMauri Norris-Johnson, a 17-year-old Desert Pines football player who was killed on Halloween in North Las Vegas, Thursday, Nov. 2, 2023.
Saturday, Nov. 4, 2023 | 2 a.m.
Se’Mauri Norris-Johnson gave much to football and to his teammates at Desert Pines High School.
“He was a light,” said one of his coaches, radio production teacher Mikel Gough.
Gough coaches football and track, which Norris-Johnson also participated in. He was a sprinter, especially good at the 400-meter dash, and he was going to try hurdles this spring.
“He’s one of those kids, you wish you had a hundred of them,” Gough continued.
Norris-Johnson, 17, was shot and killed on Halloween night in North Las Vegas. The North Las Vegas Police Department has said that Norris-Johnson was among a group of youths who approached a pair of teenage trick-or-treaters at about 9:45 p.m. on a residential street near Tropical and Camino Eldorado parkways.
Police said Norris-Johnson’s group quickly exited a vehicle in the 6100 block of Shadow Oak Drive and approached the costumed teens. One of the trick-or-treaters pulled a gun and fired. A neighbor’s doorbell camera shows that it happened in a matter of seconds.
Norris-Johnson died at the scene. His killer has not been found.
Grandmother LaVette Anderson said the killer knows what they did, and needs to turn themselves in. “We need to find the guy who murdered my grandson,” she said, emphasizing her words.
Norris-Johnson was the second Desert Pines student lost to gun violence in less than a week. The other victim, who was not a football player but was one of Jaguars football coach Tico Rodriguez’s physical education students, was killed early on Oct. 28.
Rodriguez said students are leaning on each other in their shock and disbelief. Norris-Johnson was a popular student and a rising football star. In one of the state’s dominant programs, the young linebacker was second on the team in tackles and made second-team all-division.
After breaking his hand as a sophomore, Norris-Johnson had a breakout junior year this fall and with continued development as a senior, could have landed a spot at a Division I college program, Rodriguez said. About 45 of his players over the 10 years he has led the Jaguars have advanced to college competition.
“I saw him as a Pac-12 kind of kid,” Rodriguez said. “He had that kind of talent and speed.”
In his final game Oct. 27, four days before his death, Norris-Johnson made 10 tackles and one sack in a playoff loss to Coronado.
“Right after the game he hugged me and said, ‘Coach, we’ll be back. We’ll be better,’ ” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez has been coaching at the eastside school for 23 years, as head coach since 2013. He likes to hire former players as assistants. At a vigil for Norris-Johnson attended by about 100 supporters Thursday, many graduates sporting their varsity jackets were in attendance giving out hugs.
“We have a brotherhood at Desert Pines,” the coach said, adding that a lot of players in his program have been teammates since youth football.
Jordan Hales met Norris-Johnson when they were 13. Hales attends Arbor View High School, but the athletes played on the same club team in the winter and spring. They would have started practice around this time for their winter team.
“I’d never seen him without a smile,” Hales said.
Teammate Ja’shon Wright said Norris-Johnson could bring people together, and he never saw him sad.
Teammate Adrian Peterson said, “He was a cool dude to be around ... a guy you want to be around.”
Kristine Korth was Norris-Johnson’s guidance counselor. She has been at Desert Pines for 14 years and said the kids she works with are the best — humble, fun and goofy.
As a specialist in keeping student athletes on track to play NCAA sports — Rodriguez credited her with making sure all 45 of his top-level recruits qualified for their scholarships — she also sees the off-field excelling culture of Jaguars football. They bound into her office together, asking her to pull up their grades to proudly compare.
“He was excited for his future,” Korth said of Norris-Johnson.
Blue, silver, black and white balloons — Desert Pines’ colors — glinted under the field lights as vigil mourners huddled to pray. The prayer leader asked a higher power to protect his family, his friends and beloved girlfriend, “and his Jaguar family, God.”
“We thank you most of all for a fine young man,” she said, stirring the mourners.
On the count of 13, Norris-Johnson’s jersey number, they released the balloons into the sky.
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