Star Westfield high school football player shot and killed

Saturday, August 25, 2007

Craig Bell

(8/25/07 - KTRK/HOUSTON) (KTRK) -- A promising young football player was shot and killed outside an apartment complex in northwest Harris County Friday night. On Saturday, the teammates and friends of Herman Mitchell were talking about a player they looked up to and will never forget.

A memorial marks the spot where Mitchell, who had committed to play at Oklahoma next year, was gunned down, allegedly by Emile "Rusty" Lewis.

Ashley Dixon is a close friend of Mitchell. She came home this weekend to see Mitchell play in a scrimmage. That's when she learned her friend had been shot and killed.

"I didn't believe it," she said. "I just started calling around. Once I got to Houston, I had heard that he was on the way to Ben Taub. I was getting dressed and when I walked outside, my dad had told me that he had passed away."

Dixon says that Mitchell's death still hasn't set in because she had just spoken to him the day before and all he could talk about was football and playing for OU.

"Every time we would talk about it, he would be like, 'I can't wait. I'm blessed. I'm going to do it. I'm going to make it to the NFL. I'm going to go'," said Dixon. "He wanted to take care of his mom."

Dixon says that Mitchell will be missed severely. She just hopes that other teens won't have to learn or live the painful lesson that she and hundreds of Mitchell's friends are living right now.

"I just think it's stupid. There's nothing you can get out of it. It always ends with losing someone and other people feeling the way I feel," she said.

We still don't know what started the fight and led to the shooting.
(Copyright © 2007, KTRK-TV)

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