Students mourn loss of classmate in accidental shooting

MORROW, Ga.,None — Friends and family are mourning the death of a Morrow High School student shot and killed by accident at a friend's home.

Clayton County police say 16-year-old Mario Laurent was shot Thursday night at a home along Monica drive in Morrow. He later died at Southern Regional Medical Center.

"It's sad how you could be here one day and gone the next day," Shauntavia Hollinger said.

Police were initially told Mario was shot during a drive-by shooting, but now they say the Morrow High School freshman was accidentally shot by a friend who was playing with a gun.

"It's hard to believe. It's sad. It's really sad," Hollinger said.
A person at the home where police believe Laurent was shot declined to comment.

Dozens of Mario's friends gathered outside his mother's Morrow restaurant where he once worked.
 
"That's the last person I think something like that could happen to," Triico Turnppsed said.

"He was a good kid. He stayed out of trouble. He just at the wrong place at the wrong time," Hollinger said.
 
Grief counselors spent the day at Morrow High School to help students deal with the loss of a classmate.

WSBTV