Family remembers 15-year-old killed in Augusta

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – One of the latest victims of Augusta gun violence was 15-year-old Devayn Grissam.

say the authorities was shot around 6:30 p.m. Wednesday on Helsinki Drive. He was taken to hospital where he later died.

As of Friday, Devayn’s family continues to search for a way forward as information on potential suspects is limited.

“He took a piece of me. Yes, for sure. It took a piece of me and I don’t know if I’m ever going to heal from that, you know,” said Telisha Grissam, Devayn’s aunt.

We sat down with Devayn’s family to see how they honor his life.

Moving on without Devayn will be hard on his family.

They are already thinking about how different the holiday season will be without him.

But Devayn’s family wanted to talk to us to share his story and their message to the community to lay down the guns.

It’s a life cut too soon.

“We’ll never get that. They’ll get to see their kids grow up, but we’ll never get to see him grow and progress and what he could have been, so he’ll be 15 forever,” Telisha said.

Devayn loved his family and his family loved him.

“If I had known this would be the last time I would see him, I would have hugged him a little harder. I would have talked to him a little more. You never know when is the last time you will lose someone you never met. And losing a child to gun violence is hard,” Telisha said.

On the day Devayn died, his aunt says, “I remember almost falling to the floor at the Walmart in North Augusta when I found out he had been killed.”

His family wants you to hear their heartbreaking prayer.

“The cemeteries are filling up with our children. They have no chance at life, they don’t even experience life to see what life is all about. At 15, you don’t know what life is about,” Telisha said.

Devayn’s family doesn’t want another family to feel their unbearable pain.

“At this point, what they’ve done is put a lot of stress on this family because now we have to worry about how we’re going to bury this 15-year-old because this is so unexpected,” Telisha said.

Deputies are investigating a suspicious death after finding a victim on Lumpkin Road

Together, his family chooses to remember Devayn for the life he lived.

“He loved to play basketball. He liked to do flips like gymnastics. It was falling over all the time. He was a practical joker. Every time you see him, he’s always joking about having fun,” his aunt said.

In their eyes, he is 15 forever.

“I speak for his father, his mother, his grandmother. I speak for my family. This is a pain we will endure for the rest of our lives,” said Telisha.

So far, no arrests have been made in Devayn’s death.