Lizaiah had some rough times when he was younger and he had a wild side, his sister said, but he blossomed into a kind and caring human being who brightened the days and lives of everyone around him.
“If his mom was having a bad day, he was the one to make it better,” she said.
Lizaiah, an eighth-grader at Edwin Joel Brown Middle School, came to love school and his teachers and mentor, and he always wanted to spend his time outside or around his seven brothers and sisters, who range in age from 2 to 29, said Burdette, who is his oldest sibling.
Burdette said Lizaiah’s death has traumatized his siblings, family members and friends. She said she worries how this horrific tragedy will impact their long-term wellbeing and mental health.
Burdette said a GoFundMe fundraiser for Lizaiah’s funeral service reached its $1,600 goal in two days, which is a testament to how many people loved and cared about him.
Teen remembered for kindness
Burdette said she’s received lots of messages from strangers who have told her that Lizaiah showed them kindness or helped them out when they were in a jam or stuck up for a kid who was being bullied.
“To hear these stories about my brother is crazy to me,” she said. “I haven’t had time to sit and cry because I’ve been trying to make sure he has a service and make sure his mom has what she needs.”
“I don’t think it’s really hit me yet that I’ve lost my baby brother, but just the way to hear how people talk about him it really fills my heart with joy,” she said.
Burdette said she really hopes people understand that Lizaiah was a child. She said kids his age often are rebellious and do things like sneak out at night.
“He was at the wrong place at the wrong time,” Burdette said. “Kids sneak out. Kids lie about their whereabouts all the time. I was a teenager before, and I’ve done it but I made it home.”
“My mom thought she was the most strict mom in the world and I still snuck out sometimes,” she said.
Burdette said it’s really unfair and cruel to see people on social media try to put some of the blame on Lizaiah for being out at that time of night or criticize his mother. She said people are hurting enough already.
“As a parent, you can’t be there for you child every second of the day,” she said. “I have a daughter, and she’s 2, and I want to be there every second but I know realistically that you can’t.”
Burdette said she believes there were adults in their 20s hanging out with her 14-year-old brother when he was shot. She said adults have absolutely no legitimate reason to hang out with someone so young.
Burdette said Alfred Hale III, the 18-year-old high school student fatally shot near the downtown bus hub last month, also was killed by an adult.
A 26-year-old man was arrested after Lizaiah’s death for allegedly tampering with evidence, obstructing official business, resisting arrest, carrying concealed weapons and having weapons while under disability.
Court records show that in the last six years that man has been arrested and faced criminal charges of grand theft, aggravated possession of drugs, receiving stolen property, having weapons under disability and failure to comply with police. He is not facing murder charges as of Friday.
Burdette said she has no idea what can be done to reduce gun violence in the community. She said guns are everywhere and easily accessible.
Teens are dying
At least six teens, ranging from 14 to 18 years old, have died following shootings in Dayton so far this year.
At 1:41 a.m. on April 29, Dayton police responded to the first block of Davis Avenue near Linden Avenue for a report of a person shot. Officers arrived to find 14-year-old Lizaiah LaMeir Burdette shot. He was transported to Miami Valley Hospital, where he died.
Two other teens were killed in April: 17-year-old Adrien Totty and 18-year-old Alfred Hale.
Totty was shot on April 26 in the 400 block of Midway Avenue. He died while he was being transported to the hospital, according to police.
Multiple 911 callers reported hearing multiple shots fired in the area. One caller said there were four males shooting at each other, according to Montgomery County Regional Dispatch records. Police also found two women with non-life-threatening injuries while investigating.
Hale, a Paul Laurence Dunbar High School senior, was shot in downtown Dayton on April 4.
A 911 caller reported a person who had been shot was inside In & Out Restaurant at 27 S. Jefferson St. Hale died at Miami Valley Hospital.
Stefon Montgomery, 17, died on March 1, two days after he was shot on Oxford Avenue.
Montgomery and a second 17-year-old boy were at a house in the 500 block of Oxford Avenue when they reportedly got into an altercation. Shots were fired at the boys, who drove away before crashing near North Broadway Street, according to police. The second teen was treated and released from the hospital.
On Jan. 18, Dayton police found 16-year-old James Thomas Jr. shot in the 900 block of Sherwood Drive.
A 911 caller reported an unresponsive person, later identified as Thomas, was lying down, according to dispatch records. The caller said a gun was also on the ground and there was blood all over. Thomas was pronounced dead at the scene.
Two days earlier, on Jan. 16, King Robert Ogburn was shot while driving on U.S. 35 West and crashed near Steve Whalen Boulevard.
Officers initially responded to a report of a crash, but realized it was a shooting when they found the 18-year-old with a gunshot wound to his chest. Ogburn was formally pronounced dead at Miami Valley Hospital.
Dayton police Maj. Brian Johns previously said the shooting appeared to be a targeted attack and not a road rage incident.
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