For Zaier Ellis, and a Mother Who Will Always Be His Home

Two weeks ago, Newport News lost one of its children.

Zaier Christian Ellis, just 17 years old, was shot and killed on Thanksgiving morning. He was a senior at Warwick High School. A football player. A son. A brother. A young man whose life was still unfolding, whose future had not yet had the chance to introduce itself.

For his mother, Lena Ellis, the world did what no mother is ever prepared for. It took her baby.

I remember Lena not as a headline, not as a grieving parent frozen in time by tragedy, but as a young woman walking the halls of Warwick High School years ago, full of life, plans, and possibility. Back then, the future felt open. None of us could imagine that one day she would be standing in the unthinkable space of burying her child.

And yet, here she is. Living inside a grief that has no language.

Zaier’s death occurred in a Hampton hotel room in the early hours of Thanksgiving. Police have stated that the shooting involved other teens and that no criminal charges will be pursued. But those details, while part of the public record, are not the heart of this story.

The heart of this story is a mother who will forever remember the sound of her son’s laugh.The heart of this story is sisters who will grow up with a brother-shaped absence beside them.The heart of this story is a community that keeps losing its children and struggling to make sense of how.

Zaier was more than the way he died.

He was known to teammates as steady and dependable. To family as loving. To those who knew him well, he carried a quiet strength, the kind that doesn’t demand attention but earns respect. He mattered deeply. He still does.

Too often, when young Black boys are killed, the conversation rushes toward circumstances, mistakes, or blame. What gets lost is the simple, devastating truth: this was a child who was loved, and a mother who did everything she could to raise him.

There is no explanation that can soften the blow of this loss. There is no official statement that can bring Zaier back. There is only the work of remembering him fully and holding his family with care.

As a former teacher in this community, I have watched students grow up, fall down, rise again, and so many times be taken far too soon. Each loss echoes differently, but this one carries a particular weight. Because when you know the mother, when you remember her smile from years ago, when you can trace the thread from who she was then to who she is now, the grief becomes personal.

Lena Ellis should not have to carry this alone.

Neither should Zaier’s sisters. Neither should Warwick. Neither should Newport News.

We honor Zaier best by refusing to reduce him to a statistic, by speaking his name with tenderness, and by showing up for the family he left behind. Grief does not end when the funeral does. It lingers in quiet moments, in empty rooms, in holidays that no longer feel whole.

If love could have saved him, Zaier Ellis would still be here.

May we remember him with dignity. May we surround his mother with gentleness. And may we do better, as a community, for the children still growing up among us.

Rest softly, Zaier. You were loved. You are loved. You will not be forgotten. 🕊️