Family, friends say goodbye to popular Las Vegas 12-year-old killed in e-scooter crash
For Iman Thomas, it was difficult Tuesday to put together the words that adequately described her relationship with her little brother, 12-year-old Jovonn “JoJo” Magee-Thomas, who died after being struck by another vehicle while riding an electric scooter on Sept. 21 in Las Vegas.
Thomas was one of close to 400 who came to Abundant Life Seventh-day Adventist Church in Las Vegas to memorialize Magee-Thomas, who was a student and standout athlete at Mater Academy East Las Vegas.
There were many moments, of course, she will remember, but sometimes it’s the mundane ones that illustrate a relationship best.
A while back, Iman said, the family stopped at a popular fast-foot chain drive-thru after one of JoJo’s football games. Without asking for confirmation, Iman recited JoJo’s entire order to the restaurant worker.
“He looked at me all surprised and said ‘how do you know my whole order?’” Iman told everyone at the church. “I said ‘it’s because you’re my brother and because you get the same thing every single time. He laughed and said ‘yeah, you’re right.’ That’s the kind of bond we had — it was full of jokes, love and understanding without needing to say much.”
‘Numb and confused’
The service, which lasted about two hours, showed how many people Magee-Thomas had influenced during his life, which was cut short after he was struck by a Ford van at Tully Avenue and Hidden Desert Way, near East Bonanza Road and North Lamb Boulevard in east Las Vegas on a Sunday morning a little over five weeks ago.
According to the Metropolitan Police Department, Magee-Thomas had “entered the intersection and crossed the Ford’s travel path.”
“It’s been over a month since you left and these past weeks, I’ve felt numb and confused and I keep trying to come to terms with everything,” Iman said. “But no matter how hard I try, I don’t think I ever will.”
Tyron Thomas Sr., Magee-Thomas’ father, said he didn’t think anyone could really prepare for how it feels to lose a child. He spoke of a child who was full of energy, never seemed to cause any issues at school, and someone who was just beginning to mature into young adulthood.
Magee-Thomas, his father said, loved the sky and wanted to be a pilot.
“Losing a child, that type of stress is so much,” Thomas said. “My son knew how to live life right, how to do the right thing.”
A well-liked student
At the service, Renee Fairless, principal at Mater Academy, described Magee-Thomas as a popular student who liked music and excelled at football and wrestling. He was “someone who always had such great things to say,” Fairless said.
She said it was well-known that Magee-Thomas needed to be reminded often to tie his shoelaces and that once, during a flag football game, he forgot his protective mouthpiece and tried to engineer a makeshift mouthpiece with some Kleenex.
“That right there shows the tenacity that this young man has,” Fairless said. “Even if he’s unprepared, he’s going to get prepared.”
During a memorial at Mater Academy in September, Fairless said she had known Magee-Thomas since he was 11 months old, partly because she was familiar with his older siblings.
In her 41 years in education, Fairless said, she had never seen a kid that was as well-liked as Magee-Thomas. Classmates at the school and others wore red T-shirts during the memorial last month that read “show love like JoJo.”
Many of the shirts were seen at the church Tuesday afternoon. So many people arrived at the church, some had to watch the proceedings on a large TV in a separate building.
Unique Magee, JoJo’s mother, said her son was “easygoing and easy to love.” During Tuesday’s service, Magee, Tyron Thomas Sr., and Mishon Thomas all stood up as JoJo’s parents.
Magee said she and Mishon Thomas think of themselves as co-mothers to JoJo.
“I think Jo was ahead of his time and he didn’t even know it,” Magee said. “Everything you could ask for in a child, he was that.”
Contact Bryan Horwath at bhorwath@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BryanHorwath on X.
