Iowa community recalls 11-year-old boy with ‘vibrant soul’ killed in school shooting

By SCOTT McFETRIDGE
Associated Press

Hundreds of people said goodbye to an 11-year-old boy known as “Smiley,” a week after he was shot to death at his Iowa school by an older student who also wounded seven other children and staff members before killing himself. Residents of the small community of Perry on Thursday packed a Catholic church and spilled over to a nearby church where the funeral for Ahmir Jolliff was televised. They recalled a boy with a “spirit bigger than his 11-year-old body could contain,” as the Rev. Andrea Brownlee put it. A 17-year-old student armed with a shotgun and handgun killed Ahmir before classes began Jan. 4. The high school principal, two other staff members and four students were wounded.