Richmond basketball community mourning shooting deaths of two teen players

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- The Richmond basketball community is mourning the loss of two of its own, Elijah Brown and Jaylen Martinez, after two separate shooting incidents within a week.

Brown, 17, was identified by family as one of the two teens killed in a double shooting at the Creekpointe Apartments in Chesterfield late Friday night. Police said they responded for reports of a double shooting around 11:30 p.m. that night. Brown and another unidentified teen were pronounced dead on the scene.

Eighteen-year-old Richard E. Lamb was charged with two counts of second-degree murder in connection to the shooting.

Then, days later, on June 23, Henrico police responded to a home in the 6400 block of Grey Rock Lane for report of a shooting, deemed accidental.

When they arrived, they found a teenager, identified by family as Jaylen Martinez, inside the home with a gunshot wound. He died at the scene.

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Both Brown and Martinez were young basketball stars.

"You don't expect for a kid to be here today and gone tomorrow," said CJ Wiggins, a basketball mentor who knew both teens well. "It's gut wrenching to know these babies were taken out like that....knowing they had so much going." 

Wiggins added that the news has shaken the basketball community to its core.

"The whole city knew both of those kids," Wiggins said. "My heart goes to the family. We can only imagine what they're going through."

8News confirmed that Brown was a student at the Shining Stars Basketball Academy in Petersburg. Wiggins described him as 'energetic and competitive.'

"He got the biggest laugh and smile that I would ever seen. Never think he'd go from so competitive to just so goofy and lighting up the room with his smile," Wiggins said.

Martinez was set to attend Benedictine College Preparatory next year, after graduating from Liberty Middle School where, Wiggins said, he averaged 27 points per game.

"I could go on and on about who he is. He lit up the room, everybody loves him. I've never seen someone who gets along with everybody," Wiggins recalled.

Jaylen was also closely connected to the VCU Basketball community through his father, Joey Rodriguez, who starred as a VCU point guard from 2007 to 2011, before eventually returning to serve as the director of player development beginning in 2017.

The news of Jaylen’s passing was shared by multiple officials, including a letter sent to Liberty Middle School families from Principal Sherry Lycett.

“It is with great sadness that I write to you to share the incredibly painful news that Jaylen Martinez, a rising ninth grader who attended Liberty Middle School, unexpectedly passed away earlier this week,” the letter reads, in part. “On behalf of the entire Liberty Middle School community, I want to extend our deepest and most sincere sympathies to Jaylen’s family for their devastating and unimaginable loss.”

On Tuesday night, Wiggins held a moment of silence for the two teens during the season opener of the "Love Day Basketball League." A picture captured family holding on to one another.

"I felt like it was only right. They would have been there on opening day," he said. "How close I am with Taja, Coach Star, Ciera and Joey, It only felt right to tribute them."

Both shootings are under investigation.