Overlea High students mourn June graduates' deaths

Mike Jones was a star football player at Overlea High School, an all-county running back with a bright future, everyone said, the kind of guy who inspired teammates to beat the odds.

His girlfriend, Shaniqua Tucker, with whom he graduated in June, was equally competitive, a determined midfielder on the school's lacrosse team, the Falcons, who stood up for fellow players when opponents got to talking trash.

The two hadn't been dating long, and some of their friends learned of the romance only when the awful news came over the weekend.

On Saturday night, Jones, 18, and Tucker, 19, were killed in an accident on a rain-drenched road in Pennsylvania when a car driven by the young man's father, a Baltimore police officer, skidded off the pavement, careened down an embankment and crashed into a tree.

The officer, Michael Jones Sr., 41, was in serious condition, but stable, on Monday at Maryland Shock Trauma Center. He had gone to Pennsylvania to watch his son, who had enrolled at Lackawanna College in Scranton, play in a scrimmage, and the three were headed back to Baltimore to attend a birthday party for the boy's mother, Erika.



"When I first heard that he was gone, and that it was Shaniqua as well, it hit me even harder," said Jared Dawkins, 19, a fellow football player who graduated with the two from Overlea in June. "I didn't even know they were together."

Michael Jones Jr. was pronounced dead at Penn State's Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. Tucker was pronounced dead at the scene.

The accident occurred Saturday evening on Interstate 81 in Tremont Township, between Harrisburg and Hazleton, said Anthony Guglielmi, the Baltimore Police Department's chief spokesman. He said Officer Jones was driving south, "got caught in bad rain and lost control of his vehicle."

News of the accident spread virally Sunday morning through the Overlea school's community in eastern Baltimore County, so much so that the school's principal, Elizabeth Parker, more commonly known as Penny, heard the particulars via e-mail from some of her students.

"It wasn't substantiated, but my heart told me it was right," Parker said in her office Monday, describing the burden of the tidings made heavier by the fact that it was the first day of classes. "Kids always know what's true."

The school's fall semester began with a meeting in the library at 7:10 a.m. during which Parker shared the news with some 55 faculty members. She distributed copies of a brief statement she wished the teachers to read aloud during their morning homeroom periods. It said, in part, that the school was "saddened to learn" of the passing of two "of our recently graduated students." It gave their names and extended condolences to their families.

'The biggest hug'

Five members of a school system trauma team were summoned to counsel any of the approximately 1,000 students who might have been upset.

"We made it bearable," Parker said. "We wanted to take care of the children's emotional needs."

For her own part, she said, "I was overwhelmed by the loss of these young people, by the tragedy of it. Both these children had families and siblings who were supportive. Shaniqua was my girl - she had just the biggest smile. When she got her diploma, she gave me the biggest hug."

The couple's romance, a fact Parker had only just learned, took her by surprise. "I pride myself in knowing who's hooked up with who," she said with a smile. "I guess they started dating at the end of the semester. No wonder I didn't know."

A candlelight vigil for the couple was to begin at 6 p.m. today at the school, at the request of Tucker's parents, Tony and Lisa Harris.

"She always had a lot of energy," said Tucker's lacrosse coach, Jenni Stump. "She was always ready to practice, to compete. She never backed down from a challenge, and she played with so much spirit and heart. When she first came to me she had never played before, but she learned the rules and she did a great job. She was definitely one of my more driven players."

Another lacrosse team member, Crystal Duty, 17, now captain of the girls' soccer team, said Tucker was easy to get along with, and loyal. "She had your back. If there were problems with other teams, she'd make them back off. If we had family troubles, she'd be there to support us."

The police officer's son prompted equally upbeat memories. "He was a sweetheart, usually smiling in the hallways," Angela L. Single, a teacher, yearbook adviser and coach of girls' varsity cross-country and track and field, wrote in an e-mail. "I never heard a bad thing said about him by faculty or student. Many of his teammates have expressed deep regret about the loss and are hurting badly enough to speak out to their teachers and coaches."

Jones' football coach, Chris Fallon, said the young man "was the best athlete on the team last year," and was voted one of Baltimore County's best high school running backs by a consensus of local coaches.

Wear Mike's number

Fallon, who spoke as he took a break from coaching his orange-helmeted players Monday afternoon, said Jones was "the gifted athlete with all the brawn and the brains for the game."

After a couple of years playing at college level, Fallon said, Jones would have been ready to play Division I football.

"His dad was his biggest fan," said Fallon, visibly moved. "He probably never missed a game. We're just hoping to honor Mike with our highest level of play from here on out."

Dawkins, the fellow football player who graduated with the couple, said Jones had taught him that football "is not just physical, it's mental."

"When I go to college," he said, "I plan to wear his high school number, 10, out of respect for him and his family, but I'll play football with a heavy heart."

Baltimore Sun reporter Peter Hermann contributed to this article.