A teenager from Baltimore who was murdered last week will be laid to rest on Wedneaday.
Fifteen-year-old Jason Mattison was raped, stabbed to death and stuffed into a closet Inside of a home in East Baltimore.
People who knew him say Mattison was a young man with a bright future. He attended the Vivien Thomas Medical Arts Academy in West Baltimore, which is a high school that prepares kids for careers in the medical field. Mattison dreamed of becoming a pediatrician.
About 100 friends and loved ones gathered outside the school for a vigil Tuesday night. ‘He made everybody laugh. When he came in the room everybody smiled. It's just, he didn't deserve it at all,’ said a friend, Keshaun Madison.
His English teacher, Ryan Jones, said as a student, Mattison was very focused,, kept his grades above average, and was well on his way to college. ‘He was not involved in any gangs, any violence, any weapons, it just wasn't him. He wanted no part of it,’ Jones said. ‘Take every negative stereotype you have about Baltimore City and the crime and throw it out the window.’
Police say Mattison was raped and killed last week by Dante Parrish -- who had been released from prison after appealing a murder conviction.
‘Jason didn't deserve this and there's nothing that he could have done that made somebody that mad that they had to do that to him,’ said a friend, Sashae Baker.
Parrish is being held without bail in connection with Mattison's murder.
Mattison's funeral is set for Wednesday morning at 10:30, at the Unity United Methodist Church in West Baltimore.
