Students, community wear red for Marquis Bell who died in minibike accident

HUEYTOWN, Ala. (WBRC) - Students, teachers, and staff at Hueytown Intermediate School remembered their friend and classmate, 10-year-old Marquis Bell, Friday.

Marquis was hit by a car and tragically killed Tuesday while riding a minibike in west Birmingham.

The school and community all wore red to honor Marquis, better known to his classmates as MJ.

His principal called him a sweet boy. She’s heartbroken over this tragedy and is having trouble understanding it, but she said she knows God has a plan.

A sea of red for MJ.

“He was a member of the Amistad House, and the house system is something we use here at Hueytown Intermediate to make sure every student and every adult has a place where they feel like they fit in, and as a part of our house, we wanted to represent that,” said Hueytown Intermediate School Principal, Cari McClellan.

The outpouring of support could be seen boldly throughout the school and community—a small jester for the 5th grade student who meant so much to everyone who knew him.

“Very, very nice young man. New to the Hueytown School System. Very sweet. Very kind. Only nice things to say that’s everything we’ve heard about him,” McClellan said.

But the agony of losing MJ is still raw.

Students and teachers still coming to grips with the tragic loss writing notes to help ease the pain.

“The students we have are extremely compassionate, caring, and sweet and so, it broke their hearts…several of them have even said, you know, ‘I didn’t even know MJ, but it makes me so sad,’ because they knew he was a part of our school family,” McClellan explained.

The loss is especially difficult for the school’s leader.

“It breaks my heart. You never want to lose a child. But I see it as an opportunity to make sure that I am there for my staff and my students and my families and that his family knows that we love them and that they will always be a part of the Hueytown family,” McClellan said.

We learned that MJ’s favorite color was blue, so the school will be doing a “Blue Out” on Monday encouraging everyone to wear something blue.

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