Gang Shooting Claims LDS Youth Preparing for Mission
Boston MA Herald 17Dec99 D2
by Jose Martinez and Laurel Sweet

MATTAPAN, MASSACHUSETTS -- LDS youth Omar Antoine, 19, who was preparing to serve a mission, was killed about 6 p.m. Wednesday evening when one gang shot at the car Antoine was in. Police believe the shooting was in retaliation for a shooting the day before that left a gang member critically wounded.

Antoine's mother, Jennifer McKie, says that her son was with friends, who urged him to get into a parked car for cover when a strange car appeared. An unknown assailant then fired two shots into the car, striking Antoine in the head and body. The friends rushed Antoine to a nearby fire station, where firefighters were unable to revive him.

"They really got one of the good ones," said Jennifer McKie about her son. Antoine had baptized her into the LDS Church two years ago, following his own conversion in 1995. McKie is awaiting the arrival of her eldest son, Levi, 21, who is serving an LDS mission in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

After joining the LDS Church, Antoine had promised his mother that he wouldn't run with any of the area's gangs anymore. Instead, he worked part time moving furniture with his stepfather, Leonard Jenkins, and hoped to attend BYU following a mission. His mother says that she thinks it was just his time, "God was ready for him. I truly believe God was waiting for him on the other side. There were five of them in that car and only he was taken."

One of the missionaries visiting the family last night told the Boston Herald that Omar was a good person, "I've known Omar a short time but I loved the kid. He had the biggest heart I ever met. The first time I met him, I went to shake his hand and he hugged me," said Elder Talbot.

Police have made no arrests in Antoine's murder or in the previous day's shooting, which they believe is related.