Who Killed a Cherished Ala. Student-Athlete as He Left a Basketball Game with a Friend?

The 17-year-old was leaving a high school basketball game with a friend, Tuesday night, Nov. 12, when someone fired multiple shots into their vehicle, striking the student-athlete.

Gerald Andre Lomax Jr., 17, was pronounced dead at a Birmingham, Ala., hospital just before noon the following day, Chief Deputy Coroner Bill Yates confirmed in a press release to PEOPLE.

Gerald, a senior at P.D. Jackson-Olin High School, was a varsity basketball and football player, who also held a job at Foot Locker, according to his social media.

His head football coach, Joe Webb III, a former NFL quarterback from Birmingham, mourned the death of his player – who closed out the season playing defensive end, offensive guard and tight end – on a series of Instagram Story posts. 

“‘Preciate everything you done for the Mustang family!” Webb wrote over a photograph of Gerald running along the sideline, football crooked under his arm. In a second photograph of the 17-year-old standing on the field, hands on his hips, head turned, his coach lamented that his player’s dream of college had been cut short. “God was preparing you for His Kingdom,” Webb wrote.

Birmingham police responded to a report of a person shot around 9:50 p.m. Tuesday.

Arriving officers found Gerald unresponsive but alive, suffering from a gunshot wound at Woodlawn High School.

Sgt. LaQuitta Wade tells PEOPLE that Gerald had “attended a basketball game at the high school with a friend” – he was not playing that night – and was shot on a nearby roadway, a two-minute drive from the school.

Neither Jackson-Olin nor Woodlawn men’s varsity basketball teams had a game scheduled Tuesday, nor were they slated to play each other this season. JV schedules for both teams had not been posted on the high school sports website MaxPreps.com. 

On Oct. 10, the football teams played each other in Jackson-Olin’s lone win of the season.

According to police’s preliminary investigation, Gerald was “involved in a verbal altercation” while leaving the basketball game, per a series of press releases connected to the case. The friends “attempted to leave” but an “unknown suspect fired multiple shots into their vehicle,” striking Gerald in the passenger’s seat. 

Gerald’s friend drove to nearby Woodlawn High School seeking help, per police. The shooter left in an “unknown vehicle.”

As of Friday morning Nov. 15, no one had been apprehended in connection to the shooting, Birmingham police confirm to PEOPLE.

Police have not identified a motive beyond the verbal altercation and it is unclear if Gerald knew the shooter, according to Wade. 

His mother, Courtney Brown, stayed with her son at the hospital as he succumbed to his injuries.

“I laid there with my baby until he took his last breath,” Brown told AL.com in an interview adding through tears: “I told him that I loved him and that I was very proud of him, and that he made me so proud. I promised I would take care of his brother and sister.”

In a video message, Mark Sullivan, the superintendent of Birmingham City Schools, appealed to students and families to end violent altercations.

“We want to help them to learn to navigate conflicts by using resolution skills in hopes that it will avoid the loss of life in our schools and in our city,” Sullivan said, telling students: “We are here for you, we love you and we encourage you to find a trusted source if you are hurting, angry or need help.”

“There are peaceful ways to resolve issues,” he added. “Once a life is taken, there is no replacement for a grieving family.”

Friends posted to Gerald’s Facebook wall, begging him to pull through in the hours after the shooting. “Bro, this wasn’t part of the plan,” one friend, Jaylen, wrote after his passing, punctuating the message with a broken heart emoji.

In other social media posts compiled by AL.com, the 17-year-old was remembered for his sense of humor and his deference to elders. A former coach as “one of the most respectful” players he had coached, and a Birmingham police school resource officer wrote “you made me a better officer, a better person, and a better listener.”

In the post, which included a picture of the two of them, the officer added: “You always, always kept me laughing, hugging me, told me you loved me and joking around…never a dull moment with you.” She signed off: “Forever my kid.”

If you have information connected to the shooting death of Gerald Andre Lomax, Jr., you may contact Birmingham Police Department’sHomicide Unit at 205-254-1764 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777. Tipsters to Crime Stoppers may receive a cash reward for as much as $5,000 for information pertaining to the case.