Beach teen's friends: Shooter may have wanted necklace

VIRGINIA BEACH

It's been nearly a week since 18-year-old Isiah Jones was shot down in the Lynnhaven Crossing Shopping Center, yet questions remain about who killed him and why.

Police are still investigating and are not releasing any information on leads or suspects, said Officer Adam Bernstein, a police spokesman. But the teen's friends say the shooter may have been after Jones' signature accessory - a silver and diamond cross on a chain.

Jones, a senior at Cox High School and Fame All Stars cheerleader, was waiting for his girlfriend outside The Jumpin' Monkey children's play area shortly after 8 p.m. Friday when the shooting occurred. He collapsed near his vehicle and died at the scene.

His friends all tell the same story: Someone approached his vehicle, asked for his chain and then shot him.

"Isiah snatched it off and handed it to him," but the shooter shot him anyway, said Melvin Farland Jr., a Fame All Stars coach and co-owner. "It was a senseless killing."

Police would not say whether the necklace had been recovered.

Andrea Cassevah, another co-owner, said Jones' girlfriend, who also cheers on the team, left work at The Jumpin' Monkey and found Jones gasping for air outside. She tried to revive him but was unsuccessful, Cassevah said.

"We drove up to The Jumpin' Monkey to check on him," she said. "He was just lying there, and it was just unbelievable."

Friends and family poured into the Hollomon-Brown Funeral Home on North Great Neck Road on Wednesday evening to remember Jones.

"He was very outgoing and very friendly," said Fame All Stars cheerleader Emily Rockwell, 20. "He was an excellent athlete and just a wonderful, wonderful cheerleader."

"Isiah was definitely his own spirit," Cassevah said. "He was always himself, and he was very spunky and always smiling whenever I saw him."

While only an average student, Jones was a "very intelligent young man," Farland said.

"He was preparing to graduate this year, and he was talking a lot about his future," he said. Jones had mentioned trying out for college cheerleading and wanted to go into computers, he said.

When the Fame All Stars compete in the World Cheerleading Championships in Orlando, Fla., later this month, they'll be short one of their strongest tumblers and most spirited leaders, coaches said. They'll wear black ribbons on their shoes and in their hair.

"They decided they would still go because he would want them to," Cassevah said. "Now they're just trying to figure out how to push through without him... Winning is irrelevant at this point. It's all about staying together as a team and overcoming the pain."

Jones' funeral service is planned for 1 p.m. today at Wave Church on North Great Neck Road. Jones' parents declined to comment until after the funeral.

Whoever did this didn't just hurt one person, said Stephanie Dixon, a 17-year-old Fame All Stars cheerleader who attended Jones' service Wednesday.

"They don't understand that it affects everything that he left behind - his mother, his girlfriend, his team, his family. It's hurting us," she said. "It's just unfair."

Kathy Adams, (757) 222-5155, kathy.adams@pilotonline.com