Students to plant tree for shooting victim
The annual Earth Day celebration this week will take on added meaning at Kennedy Elementary School in Uniontown. The students plan to plant a tree in honor of their injured classmate whose father, mother and daughter were shot to death last Sunday.
Larry “L.J.” Bobish Jr., 12, survived the shooting and subsequent fire at his Kennedy Street home in North Union Township. His parents, Larry Bobish Sr. and Joanna Bobish, and his sister, Krystal Bobish and her unborn child, were killed.
Police on Thursday charged 19-year-old Mark Duane Edwards Jr. of Snyder Terrace, Bierer Wood Acres, with killing them.
Kennedy principal Jeanne Hager declined to say anything personal about the boy, having been advised not to do so by Laurel Highlands School District counsel because of confidentiality issues.
She said counseling was offered to the students and they have planned the tree-planting for L.J.’s “heroism in all this,” at the same time that students who know L.J.’s likes and dislikes worked to compile a package of personal items to give him.
“This has helped with the healing process,” Hager said.
Hager said a number of the students have connections to their injured classmate through friends, relatives or neighbors.
“The first day was tough. We had extra (school district) counselors who came in and helped us,” she said.
“We tried to keep everything as routine as we could.”
She acknowledged the school staff and district administration for their efforts. She said the news of the arrest has also helped.
Police said statements from L.J., who was shot and had his throat cut, assisted in the identification of the suspect.
He reportedly told rescue workers at the scene of the shootings that Edwards shot his family members.
According to police, he then identified Edwards as the shooter from a series of photos Thursday morning.
The boy was flown to the Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh after the shooting, but is reportedly being treated an unnamed hospital.