Grief counselors will be at Mount Vernon High School Monday to help students deal with the shooting death of a 16-year-old classmate.
Gerard Gomez of Mount Vernon, Va, was gunned down outside a hotel in McLean, Va., early Sunday morning. Police say Jose Alberto Blanco-Calzadilla, the accused gunman, turned himself in to authorities Sunday afternoon. Blanco-Calzadilla has been charged with second-degree murder.
During a vigil Sunday night, friends and relatives described Gomez as a fun-loving guy who left a positive impact everywhere he went.
"He was never the type to be so confrontational. He liked to play, he liked to have fun. He was just awesome," Gomez's sister, Jocelyn Melendez, said through tears.
Police say they were called to the Residence Inn on Westwood Center Drive and found Gomez on the sidewalk. Efforts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful, and he was pronounced dead at the scene with injuries to his upper body.
A witness told News 4’s Derrick Ward that there was some sort of party going on in the hotel that broke up in the early morning. The witness said he heard a single gunshot and called police.
Gomez was a junior at Mt. Vernon, where he played lacrosse and football.
