‘He’s just a good kid’: Father of 14-year-old boy shot and killed in Worcester speaks out
Sterling Baptiste, Sr. is heartbroken.
On Friday, his 14-year-old son, Sterling Baptiste Jr., was shot and killed in an apartment on Rodney Street in Worcester.
“Since the day he was born, I tried to raise him to stay away from anything bad,” Baptiste said.
At Worcester Juvenile Court, another teenager, a sixteen-year-old was arraigned on charges related to Sterling’s death.
Sterling Baptiste Sr., was there for his son.
“I wanted to go and put my eyes on the person that was responsible for killing my son,” Baptiste said.
Sterling says his son was a good kid, an honor roll student, and a football player.
He says he gave his son limits, like a curfew, and did everything he could to guide him away from the streets, because he knows, better than anyone, what can happen.
“I did all the gang stuff, all the jail stuff, all the bad things, you never want your kid to do. I’ve been through all of that,” Baptiste said. “All I did his whole life was structure, give him his love and everything that most of the kids out here don’t have.”
Worcester Police have not released any details about this fatal shooting.
Sterling says his son went to Rodney Street Friday afternoon simply to hang out with a friend, and that other teens whom his son did not know were also in that apartment with a gun.
“The one detail I know for sure is, he didn’t go there to do anything with guns, to do any videos or rap, or anything that is being said. He ended up being shot by somebody that clearly brought a gun that shouldn’t have one,” Baptiste said.
Sterling Baptiste was a freshman at Worcester North High School.
In a statement, the principal said the school is offering counseling to students, writing: “There are no words to describe the pain that the student’s family is feeling…We offer our deepest condolences and support as they endure this unimaginable grief.”
Sterling’s family has set up a GoFundMe to help pay for expenses.
You can contribute here.
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