Students in Manor, Texas, mourn Darrin Loving, who was killed at school

Darrin Ray Loving was full of energy. He was funny, goofy, kind, and not afraid to give tough advice – the type of student friends who navigate high school life with needs and wants in their corner.

“He always made people laugh. He would make you feel comfortable with him,” said senior Sonita Siah, who was among about 250 people who gathered at the Manor School District Athletic Complex on Friday evening to honor the life of an 18-year-old student who was killed three times. a few days earlier in the restroom at Manor Senior High School.

Members of the football team who were friends with Loving formed a circle and knelt on the field as the sun set Friday, while students, staff and community members gathered around them to honor Loving’s memory.

Principal Jessica Hearne, holding back tears during a speech at the memorial, said Loving “will be greatly missed.”

After prayers, Superintendent Robert Sormani led the crowd, many carrying electric candles, to the stadium entrance, where they placed lights along with flowers and other mementos.

Some of Loving’s friends who attended the vigil said he can’t wait to graduate this year and make his mother proud.

Now his friends, classmates and teachers will have to walk past the spot where he died every day at school when classes resume, said student J’Niya Cyphers, who knew Loving well.

“This is going to be difficult,” Cyphers said. “I can tell you now that I have no intention of going.”

Tiffany Hernandez, an English as a Second Language teacher, has a son who is a freshman on the soccer team who knew Loving. She said her son described him as “very friendly and smiling.”

“He was just a young man with a good heart,” Hernandez said.

Susie Jones, whose daughter attends Manor Senior High School, said even for those who didn’t know Loving, his death was a shock.

“I can’t imagine being a parent who drops my child off at school and never sees him or her again,” Jones said.

During the vigil, Hearne said the goal of both the school and district is to create a safe environment for every student.

“Your children can’t learn if they don’t feel safe,” Hearne said.

The argument led to Loving’s death

Another 18-year-old Manor Senior High School student, Mac Brown Mbah Mbanwei, is accused of fatally stabbing Loving on Tuesday in a men’s bathroom near the coffee shop and was charged with murder.

The arrest affidavit states that students notified the school’s principal about the stabbing. The officer struggled with Mbanwei, who did not want to take his hands out of his pockets when ordered. The affidavit said Mbanwei was holding a kitchen knife.

According to the affidavit, when the officer ran back to the dining room, he found the student, later identified as Loving, bleeding from multiple stab wounds.

An officer administered first aid to Loving until an ambulance arrived, according to the affidavit, which says the fight started in the restroom and moved to a nearby dining room.

Police said Loving died at the school at 1:12 p.m. Officials did not say what led to the stabbing, but revealed that Loving and Mbanwei knew each other and had been involved in a fight a week earlier.

Records show Mbanwei is in the Travis County Jail with bail set at $1 million. Pursuant to the bail order, the judge ordered an assessment of Mbanwei’s mental health.

Classes at Manor Senior High School are canceled on Monday.

Fatal stabbings of students on school campuses are rare. In 2003 15-year-old Austin student Ortralla Mosley was stabbed to death in an upstairs hallway at Austin High School. Reagan (now Northeast Early College High School) – the only time a student was murdered on the Austin school district campus.