Jada Hampton still remembers the moment she heard about the recent fatal shooting at a high school track meet in North St. Louis. The Jennings High School senior said the news didn’t just shock her — it felt familiar.
“This is getting repetitive,” Hampton said. “When stuff like this happens in our community it’s becoming normalized. This is not supposed to be a normal thing — kids killing kids.”
Hampton was among dozens of teens who gathered at City Jump Family Entertainment Complex for the launch of a new Teen Summit Series, an initiative aimed at giving young people a platform to speak openly about violence, safety and the challenges they face in their communities.
The summit builds on the popularity of City Jump’s monthly Teen Night but shifts the focus from entertainment to engagement — creating space for youth-led conversations, mentorship and solutions. Organizers say the goal is to tackle youth violence by centering the voices of teens themselves.
The urgency of these conversations comes amid conflicting trends in the region’s violence. Overall crime in St. Louis reached an 11-year low in 2024, according to city police data, and continued to decline in St. Louis County in 2025. Still, the impact on young people remains a serious concern for public health officials.
Firearms are now the leading cause of death for children and teens in Missouri. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analyzed by the Kaiser Family Foundation, Black youth nationwide are far more likely than their white peers to die by firearm — a disparity local health officials say is acutely felt in St. Louis.
Homicides also remain heavily concentrated in North Side neighborhoods and North County municipalities like Ferguson, a pattern reflected in regional police data and one that students like Hampton and Ramey say reinforces a daily reality where safety is never guaranteed.
That reality was underscored by a recent shooting at a track meet at McCluer South-Berkeley High School in Ferguson. While the event involved multiple high schools, the victims were two eighth graders from Brittany Woods Middle School in the University City School District. One, 13-year-old LaJuan Swopes, was killed and another teen was injured. The 13-year-old suspect has been charged in family court with second-degree murder, first-degree assault, unlawful use of a weapon and two counts of armed criminal action. According to a spokesperson for the St. Louis County Courts, he appeared virtually from a juvenile detention center on Wednesday, where a commissioner ordered that he remain in custody.
The track meet, which began around 4 p.m. and included 20 schools, ended in gunfire shortly after 7 p.m. in the school’s parking lot on Brotherton Avenue, according to police. Officials said all three individuals involved were juveniles. A 13-year-old suspect was taken into custody nearby, and a firearm was recovered. Authorities said the suspect has since been charged with second-degree murder, first-degree assault, unlawful use of a weapon and two counts of armed criminal action. The second victim, a 15-year-old, was hospitalized in serious condition and is expected to survive.
Rochelle Bea, founder and owner of City Jump and a former social worker with the Missouri Department of Social Services’ Child Abuse and Neglect Unit, said too often adults are making decisions about young people without including them in the conversation.
“What are we as adults not doing to support our young people?” Bea said, referencing recent efforts like downtown curfews. “We are often speaking and making decisions for teens, but we have not brought them to the table.”
The Teen Summit Series is designed to give teens a space to share their perspectives and identify the support they need. Events include youth-led discussions, guest speakers such as local artists and influencers and opportunities for creative expression through music and digital platforms.
For many teens, the conversations hit close to home.
Some attendees had been at the same track meet where the shooting occurred. Terrell Ramey Jr., a student at Cardinal Ritter College Prep, said incidents like that highlight how quickly situations can escalate.
“There was no need for guns to be involved,” Ramey said.
Others pointed to deeper issues driving violence. Hampton said many teens come from difficult or violent backgrounds and believes those experiences often start at home. Ramey added that many young people simply don’t have the tools or support to process their emotions.
“I used to get into a lot of fights — I got picked on,” he said. “People don’t know how to express their feelings, and they don’t have an adult to talk to.”
Hampton said she could relate, recalling a period after losing a close family member when anger took over.
“I was just always angry and had my guards up,” she said.
Several teens also identified social media as a major influence. Ramey described it bluntly: “Social media is the parent.”
Richard Fairley, another high school student, said the lack of positive outlets has been a problem for years. He recalled losing friends to street violence as early as elementary school.
“I got potnas that were dying in the fifth grade because they had nothing else to do,” Fairley said. “They say it’s stuff out here for us to do, but do these people really care about us?”
Bea said those perspectives are exactly why the summit series matters. She hopes the initiative provides a safe space for teens while encouraging broader community involvement.
She also called on businesses, nonprofits and schools to expand mentorship and programming for young people.
At the same time, Bea emphasized that accountability is a two-way street.
“You have to respect the space,” she said. “Time, energy and money go into these places, and they are not created for you to be disruptive.”
Organizers say the Teen Summit Series is intended to be more than a one-time event, focusing instead on sustained engagement with young people and building solutions alongside them.
“We want teens to know there are individuals that care and support them,” Bea said.
For students like Hampton, being heard is a critical first step.