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On the side of Blair senior wrestler Kekura Musa's head gear is a small blue and white sticker with an inscription: ‘Tai.'
The memento, while simple, reminds Musa of his late friend and former teammate, 14-year-old freshman Tai Lam, who was fatally shot on Nov. 1 when a man fired his gun into a Ride On bus in Silver Spring.
"He was a great kid," said Musa, a Blazer team captain. "He was an honors student and very popular with a lot of friends. I didn't know what to say when I found out, because it was like losing a brother or one of your family members. We were all kind of blown away, but you just got to be strong."
Two other teens riding with Tai were injured in the shooting, which police say stemmed from a verbal exchange. Three alleged MS-13 gang members, Hector Mauricio Hernandez, Gilmar Leonardo Romero and Mario Ernesto Milan-Canales, have been charged in connection with the crime.
Tai never actually set foot on Blair's mats, where he was set to join his older brother, junior 119/125-pounder Lam Cao, and the rest of a young Blazers squad for the first day of practice Nov. 15. But he had grown close to many of his future teammates prior to high school. Tai immersed himself in the offseason conditioning program and regularly attended matches as an eighth-grader to watch his brother.
"We all accepted him and worked with him immediately," said Musa. "We had preseason practices this year and he would always come out. He was a very hard worker and we all thought he had a lot of promise to do very well on the team. He was like a brother to us."
Lam Cao was also on the Ride On bus with his brother on the fateful November day, and has taken time off from the team to cope with his family's tragedy. He has received support from the Silver Spring community and will be welcomed back by the Blazers with open arms.
"It's tough for me, because his brother is working to get back involved," said Blair head coach Jake Scott. "It's still a little awkward just knowing how to interact. We all are still working with the grieving process. … I had a talk with Lam and whenever he's comfortable coming back, we are here for him."
"I had begun to dream for him," said Scott. "I remember receiving a call that he had been shot and I immediately called his house where they informed me he had passed away. I went over to pay my respects to the family and encouraged [Lam Cao] because he was really broken up."
Freshman Billy Saturno, perhaps Tai's closest friend on the team, discovered the news the following morning.
"At first I found out about it on [social networking Web site] Facebook, because all these people had status updates saying, ‘Rest in peace Tai,'" said Saturno, who met Tai in downtown Silver Spring during middle school. "At first, I really wasn't sure what was going on. I thought it was a joke or something, but I noticed everyone saying stuff. It hits you like a ton of bricks because you never think it's going to happen."
