Just before the start of basketball practice last fall, PORTA boys coach Steven Price heard Grant Withers, a tall, lanky, but athletic kid still growing into his body, didn’t plan on coming out for the team.
In a story related by Brett Leischner, the assistant principal for the junior/senior high school in Petersburg, Price, who saw potential in Withers’ athletic ability, approached the 15-year-old at school about what was behind his decision.
“(Withers) said, ‘Well, coach, I’m real sorry, but I just want to hunt more,'” Leischner recalled. “And that’s what he did.”
More: Coroner identifies 15-year-old who died in weekend shooting outside of Petersburg
On Monday, two days after Withers sustained a gunshot wound that would prove fatal at his family’s home in the 15000 block of Tice Road just east of Petersburg, students honored Withers and his family by wearing camo shirts, jackets and pants to school.
Grant Withers
The idea caught on.
PORTA’s girls’ basketball team donned camo warmups, as did its Sangamo Conference opponent, Williamsville. Porta’s wrestlers and teams from Beardstown and Farmington also saluted Withers at a meet on Tuesday.
Withers also liked to ride dirt bikes and four-wheelers, according to a GoFundMe page set up to support funeral and additional expenses related to his passing.
Illinois State Police, which is leading the investigation, has not divulged details of the fatal shooting. Menard County Sheriff’s deputies were called to the scene around 12:30 p.m. on Feb. 1.
Withers’ father, Richard Withers, 40, also died of a gunshot wound, according to Sangamon County Coroner Jim Allmon.
PORTA brought in counselors for students for the week, Leischner said, including its former high school principal, Amy McMahan, who was a guidance counselor and now works in the Havana school system. Surrounding school districts, he added, volunteered to send in help.
The district also made therapy dogs available to students, said PORTA Superintendent Shannon Duling.
“We had a lot of supports on Monday,” Duling said. “Kids and staff leaned on each other throughout the day and just kind of remembered Grant.
“We had lots of different areas for kids to talk to one another. Fortunately, we had a nice (weather) day, so we had kids who walked the track and tried to get some physical movement.”
“It was amazing to see some kids you really didn’t think Grant interacted with a lot who were really affected by it, too,” Leischner added. “I think that just really speaks to how well Grant was liked and just that everyone knew he was a great kid.”
Leischner taught Withers as a seventh grader and coached him in basketball and baseball. Withers played football at PORTA.
Withers, he remembered, had a competitive side, even in recess or PE class, but he was “super kind and a good teammate. He would do anything to help out the team.”
Like Withers had a close-knit circle of friends, Leischner said, Petersburg is a close-knit community.
That’s what’s made the situation so devastating, he said.
“This hurt a lot of people. I’m not going to sugarcoat that,” said Leischner, a PORTA graduate. “But I think it’s going as well as it can. I’ve been incredibly, incredibly impressed by our staff here. They’ve gone above and beyond for our kids, checking in with them, understanding what they’re going through.
“But it’s hard. It hit our staff hard, and the kids, obviously. One of the great things about our community and our school and our district is that we wrap around each other, and we make sure that we get through things together.”
Contact Steven Spearie: 217-622-1788; sspearie@sj-r.com; X, twitter.com/@StevenSpearie.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Small town near Springfield grapples with fatal shooting of 15-year-old
