Less than an hour before Doris Johnson High School student Adonai Wilson took his final breath, he admonished his friends not to waste their lives, the mother of a high school student claimed yesterday.

Maria Woodside, the mother of 12th grade student Kenria Cunningham, said her daughter watched with horror as Wilson, 16, was stabbed during a fight on Prince Charles Drive on Wednesday.

"She was walking in the back of him," said Woodside shortly after she dropped her daughter off at Grace Community Church, where students received grief counseling.

"They [were] apparently going to Popeyes. You know kids do and say things. She (Kenria) was saying that [Adonai] was saying, 'Look here, I want all of us to go and walk up with our heads up high, and graduate and be proud.'

"'I don't want to see none of [your] names or [your] faces in the newspaper or the obituary.' Little did he know that sooner or later it would be his name and face in the obituary."

Scores of students went to the church yesterday seeking answers. During an emotional ceremony, many of the students cried as they walked to the alter for prayers. Several students were inconsolable.

The students were initially expected to go to Grace Community Church for a job training seminar. However, school officials asked the church to provide counseling following the incident. Bringing a message of hope, Pastor Lyall Bethel told the students that Wilson's murder does not have to define them. He encouraged them to learn from the incident.

"I think of how that young man with all of that potential is really gone," he said following the counseling sessions.

"Now is not the season to settle scores. Jesus Christ has settled the scores that exist. Let us find ways to work together, build together, grow together and change these appalling [statistics] of murder, mayhem and rape into us being a kindhearted people who are our brother's keeper, who can fix all that is wrong in our society."

He said he hopes the loss is a catalyst for change among the nation's youth.

Yesterday, police arrested a 15-year-old and a 17-year-old in connection with Wilson's murder. Doris Johnson Principal James Clarke said the entire school population is in shock.

"We were shocked because they had persons who got stabbed before but they never died. I think that's the sad part about it," said Clarke, who organized grief counseling for the teachers and administrators as well.

"... We are saddened because one of ours died on the street for a senseless act. The person who did it, he didn't win. He will suffer the consequences. And what is it all for? Over stupidity, arguing? I think we need to find a better way."

Clarke said Doris Johnson is a "good school" with "a few bad elements who are just spoiling the bunch". He said the murder was the culmination of a rocky day at the Prince Charles institution.

"We had several incidents during the day but when those children saw the boy on the ground, [not] moving, I think that set a different tone," he said.

Asked to explain what he meant when he said there were several incidents, Clarke said there were a few minor fights on campus.

Woodside said the murder should be a wake up call for all young people who are involved in a life of crime.

"It's a very sad thing because there are two families hurting," she said. "One lost their son forever; the other lost a son's freedom. It's very sad because whatever happened... it's ridiculous."

A graphic video taken by someone who observed the fight was widely circulated on social media. It shows the victim, who appeared to be wearing brass knuckles, in an altercation with a male student as a female student attempted to separate the two.

Another male student wielding a large knife then lunged at the teenager and appeared to stab him several times. Andonai Wilson managed to get away but later collapsed on the sidewalk. Officials said his mother got to the scene before he died.

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