Group raising money for 6-year-old shot and killed at July Fourth party

TEMPLE HILLS, Md. — Nearly two weeks after someone shot and killed six-year-old Ahsan Payton at a July 4th party in Prince George's County, the community is working to fundraise for his funeral.

Prince George's County Police are still "aggressively pursuing their investigation" into who shot Payton and two adults at a neighborhood Independence Day party on the 4500 block of Akron Street a little before 8 p.m.

The man and woman who were shot survived, but Payton died two days later in the hospital -- with his mom right by his side.

"She said from that day on until he transitioned, she just laid in the bed with him. So she has been his mother the entire time," Yukia Wilson, who is helping to plan the six-year-old's funeral said. "She's been an awesome mother the entire time through this process. And I'm watching her continue to nurture her one year old. I'm watching her continue to speak well of her son...amazing young woman."

Wilson founded and runs The Farewell Agency, which she calls a concierge company that assists families in planning and organizing funeral arrangements.

"My whole job is to make sure that this family is able to get some kind of rest without having to leave the house and go all of these different places and talk to all these different people. They just don't have the capacity. There's they're not sleeping, they're barely eating. So they don't have the capacity to answer the phone for different vendors," she said.

Another advocacy group Guns Down Friday connected her with Payton's family last week, and she has been working to make his service special ever since.

Wilson set up a GoFundMe to raise money for the funeral expenses. She set the goal at $25,000 and said that any extra money raised will be given to the family to take a trip.

"For a situation like this, you're talking about a little league football player; you're talking about a six year old; you're talking about a school age student, there should be no limits on what he should have for his last home going," Wilson said.

She is planning to incorporate some of Payton's favorite things into the service, including his love of football and Spiderman.

She is even looking into wrapping his coffin in a Spiderman theme.

Meanwhile, she said his mom is still just trying to process what happened as she raises Payton's one-year-old sister and brother, who is only 11 months apart in age.

"His brother doesn't want to go home just yet, because he's so used to sharing bunk beds with his brother. And just to hear her say that it broke my heart," Wilson said after meeting up his mom for coffee Tuesday. 

"During this time, you're trying to be a mom to two other people, right? You're trying to grieve through the process. You're trying to ask yourself questions. You're going through the process of, 'is it my fault?'" Wilson said. "What can I have done different? My kids don't really go outside...What's happening? What's going on? So I'm just really giving her that reassurance to just give yourself some grace.”

Wilson said she also wants to make sure Payton's life and story don't get lost in what she feels is a constant stream of homicide victims in DC and Prince George's County.

“I don't want his legacy to die. Although he was a six year old, he's still important. And I want them to say his name. Ahsan," she said. "And he has a name, right? He had a future. He won't be able to make it to prom. He won't be able to make it to graduation. He has a name, and I want the cities to remember his name.”

Prince George's County Police is offering a $25,000 reward for any information that leads to an arrest and indictment. So far, they have not announced any suspects or arrests.