VILLA RICA, Ga. (AP) — Shaquille O'Neal is offering to pay for the funeral of 12-year-old Jada Smith, a Georgia girl who died a few days after collapsing following a fight after school.
The former NBA superstar said he does not want Jada's family to face the financial burden of a funeral while mourning the loss of the sixth grader, who passed away at a hospital on March 8.
“As a father, my heart goes out to Jada’s family,” O'Neal said in a statement. “No parent should ever have to bury their child, and if there is anything I can do to ease even a small part of that burden, then it is the right thing to do.”
O'Neal's offer was announced in a joint news release by the sheriffs of Douglas County, where the fight took place, and Henry County, where O'Neal owns a home and serves as the sheriff's community relations chief. Both counties are located in the Atlanta suburbs.
The girl's death is under investigation by police in Villa Rica, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) west of Atlanta. Authorities reported that Jada was involved in a fistfight with another girl near a neighborhood bus stop after being dropped off from school on March 5. She died three days later at a hospital.
Sgt. Spencer Crawford, a police spokesman, said investigators are reviewing cellphone video of the fight posted on social media. The footage shows Jada and another girl approaching each other and exchanging punches after the school bus departs. The girls fall to the ground before an adult intervenes. The video ends with Jada picking up her backpack and beginning to walk away.
She never made it home. Sgt. Crawford stated that emergency responders were dispatched following a report of “a young juvenile who was in cardiac arrest laying in the street.”
The results of an autopsy to determine the cause of death have not yet been released.
One of Jada's aunts, Lindsey McClendon Pettiford, shared on social media that the funeral is scheduled for Saturday.
