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US student shot by cops declared dead
Family and friends mourning the loss of a troubled teenager prepared a candlelight vigil on Sunday to remember the boy, who died two days after being shot by deputies at his middle school.
Family and friends mourning the loss of a troubled teenager prepared a candlelight vigil on Sunday to remember the boy, who died two days after being shot by deputies at his middle school.
Christopher Penley, 15, was officially pronounced dead at 4:57 a.m. (0957 GMT), the Seminole County Sheriff's Office said in a statement posted on its Web site.
The boy had been described as clinically brain dead on Saturday and was kept alive so his organs could be harvested for donation, said Mark Nation, a lawyer for Penley's parents.
"It's just unbelievable to me that he's gone," said Bucky Hurt, a family friend who had been with the boy's father, Ralph Penley, at the hospital. "It's very, very devastating. Good kid too -- it's a tragedy."
The evening vigil was planned at nearby Landmark Community church to remember Christopher.
Friends and neighbors described the teenager as emotionally troubled, saying he had been bullied at school and had run away from home several times.
On Friday, he was at school with a toy gun that closely resembled a 9mm handgun when another boy scuffled with him for control of the gun inside a classroom. Christopher was later cornered by sheriff's deputies and a police elite unit in a school bathroom, authorities said.
