{"id":443262,"date":"2026-08-25T18:52:45","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T18:52:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/443262\/"},"modified":"2026-08-25T18:52:45","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T18:52:45","slug":"vigil-honors-teen-killed-in-shooting-at-independence-high-school-football-game-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/443262\/","title":{"rendered":"Vigil honors teen killed in shooting at Independence High School football game"},"content":{"rendered":"

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK\/KBFX) \u2014 Candles, balloons and prayers filled the front of Independence High School as Bakersfield residents gathered for a vigil honoring 17-year-old Levi Brown, who was shot and killed at a football game on campus just days earlier.<\/p>\n

\"Family<\/p>\n

Family and friends held a vigil at Independence High School following Friday\u2019s shooting. The victim, 17-year-old Levi Brown, was remembered and honored by loved ones during the vigil. KBAK\/KBFX.<\/p>\n

The football field was quiet during the vigil, as people who knew Brown\u2019s family and others who did not came together to grieve and to call for change.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe should be able to gather without being in a situation like this,\u201d said D\u2019Andra Jones, one of Brown\u2019s godmothers.<\/p>\n

Jones said Brown\u2019s mother is still grieving and did not want to speak on camera. Jones described the family as being \u201cin a lot of pain, a lot of grief,\u201d adding, \u201cThe mother is very, very hurt behind all this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jones said the turnout from across the community was a reminder that Brown\u2019s family is not alone.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt makes me feel good that we have the support because once all this is over, she\u2019s going to be by herself. But then she\u2019ll still have the family support,\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n

\"Family<\/p>\n

Family and friends held a vigil at Independence High School following Friday\u2019s shooting. The victim, 17-year-old Levi Brown, was remembered and honored by loved ones during the vigil. KBAK\/KBFX.<\/p>\n

Community organizations also attended the vigil to offer support and resources. Rodney Washington, who has spent about 25 years working with families in Bakersfield, came to offer comfort and to let people know resources are available beyond the vigil.<\/p>\n

Mothers Against Gang Violence was among the groups present. Its president, Xenia King, said the organization has spent eight years working to prevent gang, gun and domestic violence.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one wins. We have a child that\u2019s been murdered. We have another one that\u2019s going to prison,\u201d King said.<\/p>\n

King said the shooting happening at a school left her feeling \u201cscared for our kids. Scared for our future. Hurt. Pain.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to bring safety to our communities and to our families. We don\u2019t want our families living in fear… so where are our kids really safe?\u201d King said.<\/p>\n

King said the message cannot end with one night, and that preventing another family from holding a vigil like this will take the entire community.<\/p>\n

\"Family<\/p>\n

Family and friends held a vigil at Independence High School following Friday\u2019s shooting. The victim, 17-year-old Levi Brown, was remembered and honored by loved ones during the vigil. KBAK\/KBFX.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it won\u2019t stop happening until we become that village. That village. And I mean everybody. Everybody in Bakersfield needs to come together. We need a village to stop this. This is a problem. A serious one,\u201d King said.<\/p>\n

Several organizations said they will continue providing resources and support to families affected by violence.<\/p>\n

The community response is expected to continue tomorrow, when Independence High School students plan to walk out after first period. Students said they will gather at the football field to honor the life lost, speak out against gun violence and call on the Kern High School District for actionable campus safety measures.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK\/KBFX) \u2014 Candles, balloons and prayers filled the front of Independence High School as Bakersfield residents…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":443263,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152],"class_list":["post-443262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield-headlines","tag-bakersfield-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=443262"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443262\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/443263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=443262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=443262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=443262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}