Prayer vigil held for Central Dauphin High School student

DAUPHIN COUNTY, Pa. (WHTM) – It’s been more than a week since Central Dauphin High School student Justin Johnson passed away.

Tonight, dozens of people were at a prayer vigil held for Justin at New Life Christian Church in Harrisburg.

The senior pastor of the church, Dr. Jason Davenport, Justin’s father Orville Johnson, and community members spoke during the vigil.

Davenport explained why he felt the need to organize this vigil.

“One thing that I noticed when the situation happened, there were a lot of people talking, but I didn’t see too many spiritual leaders or too many pastors speaking up about what they could do to help. It’s important that somebody says, ‘Let’s come together in prayer, united as one community, regardless of your faith or your background, let’s come together and we can all pray and ask God for direction,’” said Davenport.

During the vigil, some community members also shared their outrage.

“Unfortunately… we get triggered because we hear this narrative so many times of young Black boys dying before there time,” Steelton Mayor Ciera Dent said. “So regardless of what the facts are right now. We have to deal with what surfaces when things like this happen. So, a lot of us we are outraged because we didn’t know if it was racial, we didn’t know if he was being bullied, we still don’t know these things.”

PAST COVERAGE: Dauphin County investigators lay out “game” that preceded Justin Johnson’s death

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