About Me
Cedric "C.J." Mills dreamed of playing football for the University of Miami.Tampa police continue to look for evidence in the murder of Jefferson High football player Cedric "C.J." Mills, 17, as his teammates, classmates and loved ones mourn him. "They took a life," said eyewitness Ebony Green, 18. "They took somebody's son, somebody's friend. They took somebody's brother." Mills was in the driveway of his home on West Laurel Street in Carver City shortly before 6:30 p.m. Wednesday when two men got out of what's believed to be a newer-model green or silver 2007 Chrysler Sebring with tinted windows and began shooting, hitting Mills twice in the chest. More Information Witness reacts to shooting Shooting location "He threw his hands up and fear came over his face and I saw the boy with a gun start shooting," said Green. Green called 911 and ran to help her friend. "He said he couldn't feel his leg, somebody move his leg for him and I'm like 'C.J., don't move, don't move, don't move,' " said Green. Mills died from the gunshots Wednesday night at St. Joseph's Hospital. Green said Mills had a bright future ahead of him."I'm doing this for my friend because I loved him," said Green of why she's speaking out. "He did not deserve this. He was going places. He had dreams." Mills reportedly got into a fight with someone a few weeks ago who may have been one of the gunmen. Grief counselors spoke with students at Jefferson High Thursday, while Mills' football coach, Michael Fenton, tried to come to grips with his death. "He was a good student, tremendous football player," said Fenton. "Had so much potential. There's no doubt in my mind that he would have been one of the top recruits in the country." The linebacker dreamed of playing for the University of Miami. Last season, he recorded more than 100 tackles and 13 sacks for a Jefferson team that advanced to the state playoffs. Cedric's father, Vidal Mills, a former star at Jefferson High, played with the Tampa Bay Storm after briefly playing with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the mid-1990s. Cedric "C.J." Mills wrote with a green felt-tip marker the goals he wanted to accomplish - writing them down made them seem real. He hung them beside his bedroom door where he would see them. The day he was fatally shot while in his front yard, Mills did his push-ups and read his list, a list of things that will never come true: •Pull my grade up to attest a B average •Make my grandmother happy •Become the best linebacker ever •Win state •Win first team everything •Be an All-American football player •Make it to Miami Uni. •Get a good degree •Help team to championship •Go to the NFL •First round pick •Buy grandparents a really big house •Buy myself a house •Buy parents a house •Be in the Pro Bowl •Make Hall of Fame •When lil brother gets older help him with football •Be Rivals top recruit TAMPA - The day he died, Cedric "C.J." Mills did sit-ups and push-ups and read his list of goals hung beside his bedroom door, his father said. The list is three white pieces of paper taped together, printed in green marker. About a year ago, at his father's urging, he wrote what he wanted to do in life. "It's good that it's in your mind, but if you write it down, you can feel it and touch it," Vidal Mills recalled telling his son. Mills, 34, fingered the list Friday. He rested it on his mother's kitchen table for friends and relatives to see between making funeral arrangements and speaking with homicide detectives. Tampa police are searching for two gunmen who shot the 17-year-old Jefferson High School linebacker in front of his house at 4219 W. Laurel St. on Wednesday evening. Police are looking for a light green or gray newer-model Chrysler the two used. At a news conference Friday, police Maj. George McNamara said detectives had been working "42 hours straight, to the point of exhaustion." They were sifting through "voluminous" amounts of information and combing the family's yard for evidence. "There's someone out there who knows what happened," McNamara said. "This young man, as with many homicide victims, didn't deserve this." MTV Networks, which has been filming at Jefferson High School since Tuesday for a special about the week before the school prom, was so moved by the grief over the teenager's death that it will donate money to the school in his name, a spokeswoman in New York City said. The network does not want to reveal the amount. Andrew Huang, the MTV director filming at the school, said the crew had not met Mills but that his death likely will become part of the program. Lucy Mills, C.J.'s paternal grandmother, had not heard of the donation until told by a reporter. "Oh, my goodness, that is so sweet of them," she said. Focusing On The Positive Vidal Mills, who spent a year on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers practice squad and was a linebacker for the Tampa Bay Storm, an Arena Football League team, said he has "an idea" who killed his son, but he cannot say. Instead, he chose to focus on his son's determination to succeed. C.J. was an honorable mention on the Class 4A All-State Football Team last season. Jefferson head football coach Mike Fenton predicted he could have played in the National Football League one day. "I think he was 2 years old when he got his first Buccaneers helmet and his shoulder pads," Mills said in his mother's home on West Cypress Street. "He was so cute." His son inspired him, Mills said, shifting in his seat because of a sore back. He now plays linebacker for the Sarasota Knights, a team in the National Indoor Football League. "The only reason I'm out there is because of him," Mills said. "Give him a chance to see his Poppy play." When he wrote down his goals, C.J. also composed a list of "people to help." His grandparents come first, followed by his father, his mother and his stepmother, brothers and sisters, and two best friends. That and his goals show his heart, Mills said. The teenager had a MySpace page with swear words, a picture of machine guns, fierce dogs, piles of money, an illustration of Jesus and a photograph of his team on the football field, but this was a tough persona he adopted to bolster his poetry and raps, Mills said. "All these kids do this. That's the fad now," he said. He Loved His Grandmother The C.J. he loves has a tattoo of his paternal grandmother's name, Lucy. On his list of goals, pulling his grades up to a B average ranks first. Make my grandmother happy. Become the best linebacker ever. Eighteen goals in all. "He reads that right before he goes out the door," Vidal Mills said. "That's how he attacks life." Go to the NFL. Buy grandparents a really big house. Buy myself a house. Buy parents a house. When lil brother gets older help him with football. His mother, LaKesha Baxter of Brandon, joined Mills and other relatives in grieving at the West Cypress Street house Friday. "He never wanted to do things to make people unhappy," she said. That included protecting his family from any conflicts he had, Vidal Mills said. It was weeks before Mills learned C.J. had struck a young man from the neighborhood after he taunted C.J. about stealing his car's stereo equipment. "I wish he'd told me. He tried to keep me out of trouble," Mills said. "I tell him, 'I can look out for me.' It's my job to protect him." He is glad to be busy with relatives, detectives and friends, he said. Late at night, when he has time to think, he is heartbroken by memories of the child who dreamed big.
