Family devastated after 13-year-old stabbed by former friend during fight, dies
Friends, family, community leaders held a vigil for Nyaira Givens Tuesday
Friends, family, community leaders held a vigil for Nyaira Givens Tuesday
Friends, family, community leaders held a vigil for Nyaira Givens Tuesday
A family is broken after a 13-year-old girl was stabbed to death in Winton Hills.
The teen's father said the pain is immeasurable and described her as the glue that held them all together.
Investigators said the teen was taken to Cincinnati Children's Hospital where she died after the stabbing Monday night.
"I held her. I watched her as she died. I watched her, you know. All I could do was just hold her, hold her," Maurice Jackson said.
Devastation, heartache and loss are all emotions that Jackson, Nyaira Givens' father, is feeling after her sudden death.
"I tried. I tried to stop the bleeding," Jackson said.
There are so many feelings he cannot escape, and many people wouldn't be able to either, after the loss of a child.
Cincinnati police said Givens was stabbed to death by another 13-year-old girl during a fight near the family's home on Topridge Place.
Prayers on Tuesday evening helped ease the heartache, but just barely.
"Just tried my best to protect her and be the father I could be, you know? I guess I didn't pay attention to all the other stuff that was going on around her," Jackson said.
He said his daughter was the second oldest of seven children.
He also said she helped keep the family together and loved school.
Jackson told WLWT his daughter was a freshman at Aiken High School and went to school with the girl who stabbed her.
He said they were "on and off friends," but that his daughter was being bullied.
Community leaders call the scene "tragic."
"Learn how to solve problems, one towards another, because just because you're mad at somebody doesn't mean that their life has to be taken because of that," Cincinnati Police God Squad Rev. Alvin Scales said.
A 13-year-old's life was stolen this time and it has left a family broken.
"The pain I'm feeling right now, it's just, I can't explain it. It's very unexplainable. She should be burying me. I shouldn't be burying her," Jackson said.
Givens' father said she was smart, mature and wanted to be a hairstylist.
He said she wanted to bring beauty to the world.
Police said the 13-year-old suspect is being held at the Hamilton County Juvenile Detention Center and is due in court on Wednesday by Zoom.
She faces a murder charge.