Families unite to remember slain teen two years after shooting

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – Two years after the life of a central Ohio teen was taken much too soon, her family and friends continue to keep her memory alive.

Tuesday marked two years since 18-year-old A'yanta Jarmon died. She was fatally shot at a party. She went by AJ and LaShonda Campbell, her mother, said she was a great soul, a star, and someone who always put her friends first.

“We literally just are taking it day by day," Campbell said. "There’s nothing we can do but wake up every morning and look for her to give us strength and that's what we’ve been doing."

Family and friends on Tuesday evening gathered around Jarmon's headstone. They wrote messages on balloons and shared stories about the beloved teen who had a bright future. She had just graduated high school and was getting ready to go to college. She loved Reynoldsburg, where she was a cheerleader, and those who gathered for the memorial wore purple.

“This is a community that is hurting and they continue to hurt because she is not here, and we continue to hurt because she's not here," Campbell said. "But again, that love and that support has gotten us through this far and I have no doubt in mind that it’ll continue to get us through." 

Some of the support for Jarmon's family has come from Seneca Ridley. Makenzi, Ridley's 17-year-old daughter, was shot and killed outside a Columbus recreation center about a year before Jarmon's life was taken.

"I'm just always going to support them, I hate that we have to be in this club, it's no fun, I don't wish it on my worst enemy," Ridley said. "It's just so like crazy and heartbreaking to have to do this for girls that were just this unique and this spectacular.”

A man has been arrested and charged with murder in Jarmon's death, but no one has been arrested for the deadly shooting of Makenzi Ridley. Olivia Kurtz, 16, was shot and killed in Bicentennial Park in 2021. There have not been any arrests in that case, either.

Through her grief, Campbell is pushing for progress in those investigations.

“If you know something about any of these cases, Makenzi's case, A'yanta's case, and Olivia's case, please come forward," she said. "We deserve that. We deserve that as parents and a community."

Anyone with information is urged to contact Columbus police at 614-645-4545.

"The girls deserve that. All three of them. They deserve that," Ridley said.