t 1:15 p.m. press conference at Jefferson High School, police said they are checking out leads.

“We have a lot of people to interview,” said police spokeswoman Andrea Davis. “There are a lot of rumors out there. All the homicide detectives are on deck.

Detectives are entertaining every story. There is nothing they are ruling out yet.”

Chuck Jaksec, a social worker with the school district’s crisis team, said “it’s been an intense day. We lost a very active part of the school body. Very popular. Well loved.”

There are about 10 counselors on campus who have seen several hundred students, Jaksec said.

“They will be back tomorrow,” Jaksec said and maybe next week if needed.

Students have set up a shrine with his jersey and flowers, Jaksec said. Students have been dropping notes there.

“A lot of love, really,” he said.

Mills “didn’t know age,” said Jaksec. “He was a friend to everybody. A heck of a football player. A heck of an athlete.”

A linebacker for Jefferson High, Mills was standing outside 4219 W. Laurel St. when two people in a Chrysler drove up at about 6:25 p.m. Wednesday night, police said. They said
witnesses heard gunshots and someone scream.

Mills was found lying in his front yard with two gunshot wounds. He was shot in the stomach, police spokeswoman Andrea Davis said. She said Mills was taken to St. Joseph’s Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 7:40 p.m.

“I heard the gunshots and then I came outside to see what happened and I see C.J. lying on the ground,” said his classmate and neighbor, Jerry Allen.

“It was hard to believe but what else could I do, he was just lying there on the ground,” Allen said.

Detectives are trying to figure out the motive and whether the assailants knew the teen.

News of his death traveled quickly.

Nearly 100 students showed up at school Wednesday evening, said Bob Morgan, Jefferson’s athletic director.

“There is a lot of anger and grief right now. We were concerned because there are kids who wanted to find out who did this. Others are just grieving. We just don’t want them to be on the streets, so we’re going to keep our gym open tonight,” Morgan said.

At 5 feet 11 inches tall and 195 pounds, Mills was considered an outstanding linebacker at Jefferson and led one of the best defenses in the state.

Plant High football coach Robert Weiner, who played against Jefferson twice last season, had even spoken to college coaches about Mills.

“They would always ask me who else is good around the city, and my first answer was to head over to Jefferson and see that Mills kid play - because he’s something special,” Weiner said. “I felt like by the time he was a senior, he could play anywhere in the country one day.”

Mills was an honorable mention on the Class 4A All-State Football Team last season. He also was selected to The Tampa Tribune’s Hillsborough County Football second team.

“This is the saddest news I’ve heard in a while,” said former Jefferson quarterback Stephen Garcia, who played with Mills last season. “He was a great kid. It’s so sad that his life was cut short. He had all the potential in the world and now this? It’s unbelievable.”

Garcia, now a player at the University of South Carolina, received a chain text message saying that the linebacker had been shot. A second text message later told him of Mills’ death.

Jefferson coach Mike Fenton and Morgan arrived at the hospital late Wednesday evening to comfort Mills’ family. Fenton and several Jefferson players said they were too distraught to talk.

Police are looking for the assailants. They don’t have a description of the driver. The passenger is described as a black male with a light complexion, 6 feet tall and 160 pounds with a medium build. The vehicle is a newer model Chrysler, possibly two-door and gray in color with tinted windows.

“This is just an awful tragedy,” Weiner said, “and the entire football community is mourning.”

News Channel 8’s Jason Odra and Chip Osowski and Tribune reporter Valerie Kalfrin contributed to this report. Reporter Anwar S. Richardson can be reached at (813) 259-8425 or arichardson@tampatrib.com . Reporter Mari Robyn Jones can be reached at (813) 259-7638 or mjones@tampatrib.com.