Murdered Teen’s Mentor Stresses Importance of Positive Outlets

As Oklahoma County deputies search for suspects in the fatal shooting of two teenagers Saturday night, a local school community is grieving together.

Mark Carter, 14, was a freshman at Northeast Academy. Students and faculty held a moment of silence Monday morning, remembering a life cut short by violence.

Investigators say Carter and 17-year-old Edmond-native Brandon Beiner were shot after a fight escalated at a rodeo in Kringlen Park.

Bright, energetic and loving are just some of the words used to describe Mark.

“Mark was everybody’s little brother. Mark was everybody’s friend. Everybody loved Mark, so this is hard,” English teacher and youth motivational speaker Anthony Crawford said.

Crawford mentored Mark on the Sigma Beta step team after school. He said the boy was never involved with violence, but grew up around others who were.

Crawford said school and the step team were Mark's means of escape. He believes if more youngsters had positive outlets, tragedies like Saturday's shooting would be prevented.

“He found something that he loved to do and he loves to be around and it keeps him out of trouble,” Crawford said. “So for all the kids out there, find something that you love to do and keep at it.”

The sheriff's office is still investigating the circumstances that led to the shooting, interviewing hundreds of witnesses who were at the rodeo that night.

Meantime, the community is contributing money for Carter's funeral expenses through a GoFundMe campaign and the hashtag #StepHarderForCarter.

“I hate that it brings a death to bring people together, but this is what we’ve got to do. We’ve got to come together. We’ve got to see the overall picture of life and understand that separate we’re weak, but together we’re strong,” Crawford said.

Shauntel Mims, 21, is currently behind bars for illegal possession of one of the guns found at the crime scene, but no one has been charged yet in connection with the homicides of the two teenagers.