On what should have been a peaceful Sunday morning in St. Louis County, a family’s home became the scene of unimaginable horror—one that would forever divide life into before and after.

🌅 A Quiet Morning Turns Deadly
Nineteen-year-old Marc Rhodes Jr. and his sister, twenty-year-old Lanija Cooper, were inside their home with their mother when a confrontation erupted outside. What began as an accusation—suspecting Lanija of slashing the tires of a new girlfriend’s car—spiraled rapidly out of control.

🔫 A Confrontation Fueled by Suspicion
According to investigators, Lamarr Harris, also 19, arrived angry and confrontational. Within moments, words gave way to gunfire. In front of their mother, Laura Rhodes, Harris opened fire, striking both siblings. Marc and Lanija collapsed, their lives ending where they should have felt safest.

💔 A Mother’s Worst Nightmare
For Laura Rhodes, the trauma is beyond words. She witnessed the violent deaths of both her children—two young adults with futures still unfolding. No parent should ever have to watch their children die, let alone lose two in the same breathless moment.

🚓 Arrest and Unanswered Questions
After the shooting, Harris attempted to flee but was quickly arrested by authorities. He now faces a murder charge in connection with Marc’s death. Charges related to Lanija’s killing remain under review, leaving the family suspended in painful uncertainty as they await full accountability.

🕊️ A Community in Mourning
Friends and neighbors describe Marc as kind-hearted and protective, Lanija as vibrant and full of life. Their deaths have rippled through the community, igniting grief, anger, and renewed conversations about how quickly suspicion and jealousy can escalate into irreversible violence.

🌑 Grief That Will Never Fade
For the Rhodes family, justice—whatever form it may take—cannot restore what was stolen. Two young lives were extinguished in seconds, leaving behind a mother’s broken heart and a family forced to carry the weight of a loss too heavy to measure.

🕯️ Remembering Marc and Lanija
They were more than headlines. They were siblings, children, dreams in motion. And though their lives were cut short, their names will not be forgotten—spoken now with sorrow, and remembered with love.