Shantera Ebanks tattooed her son’s name on her forearm even before she confirmed his gender. She knew he was a “star” even before giving birth to her boy, a 5-pound, 6-ounce baby with long limbs, a chunky face and curly hair.

So when her 19-year-old son, K’mauri Ebanks, was fatally shot on Sunday, she was distraught when the doctor told her she couldn’t even touch him as he exited the world with 35 bullet holes in his body, she said Tuesday.

“He had that thing where people are just naturally drawn to you. I had a 19-year stretch with him and he brought so much joy to my life during that time,” Shantera Ebanks said of K’mauri, the oldest of her four kids. She was still wearing the pink wristband for visitors to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center.

Shantera Ebanks, mother of K’mauri Ebanks, holds up photos of him in her home on June 6, 2023. She still wears the pink hospital wristband from when he was admitted to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center. (Kaitlin Newman/The Baltimore Banner)

K’mauri was set to graduate on June 13 from Digital Harbor High School, where he was the football team’s quarterback. Head coach Herbert Parham said K’mauri was “exciting to watch” and “always had a smile on his face.”

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“As a football player, he was always eligible to play. He was a good student [of the game] when it came to memorization, which helped him play the quarterback position,” Parham said, adding that K’mauri could have excelled as a safety, too.

Parham, who also serves as a counselor at Digital Harbor, said that he noticed K’mauri’s academic performance change after the football season.

“I’m not sure what he was getting into, but his attendance started to fall off,” Parham added. “His mother and grandmother were always present, so he had the support. I can’t really say what changed, but him passing is unfortunate.”

Shantera Ebanks had just gotten home Sunday and was settling in after leaving a baby shower for K’mauri’s unborn daughter when her other son, 16-year-old Sevron Wright, came running up the steps.

“The minute I’m climbing up on my bed, my other son screams ‘Ma, they said K’mauri is dead,’” Ebanks said. “I said, ‘What?! Are you sure?!’ I had just been with my son less than 30 minutes ago.” She received the call confirming his death around 8:30 p.m., she said.

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Ebanks tried calling her son, whom she had loaned her cellphone, and his girlfriend, but received no responses.

After the baby shower, which had been in downtown Baltimore, K’mauri was bringing gifts from his daughter’s baby shower into a house before he was shot. Police found K’mauri’s body on the 500 block of Orchard Street in Seton Hill.

Ebanks finally got a call from K’mauri’s girlfriend, telling her to come to the scene immediately.

She pulled up and saw multiple police cars with flashing lights. “Where’s my son?” she repeatedly yelled.

K’mauri had “numerous life-threatening gunshot wounds,” police said.

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Medics took K’mauri to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center, where doctors tried to resuscitate him three times, his mother said.

She recalled how a doctor told her: “Unfortunately, he had a massive heart attack and the bullet wound to his head is what killed him.”

He had been shot in the face nine times, she added.

Kayla Wright and Sevron Wright, the sister and brother of K’mauri Ebanks, in addition to other loved ones speak about their memories of Ebanks at their home on June 6, 2023. (Kaitlin Newman/The Baltimore Banner)

K’mauri leaves behind three siblings, Kayla Wright, 17, Christian Dior Wright, 14, and Sevron Wright, and two unborn children of his own. His daughter is expected to arrive later this month, and his son with another mother is due on what would’ve been K’mauri’s 20th birthday on Nov. 5.

“K’mauri was my big brother that I could count on,” Kayla Wright said, adding that he was a protector.

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“He was such a good boy that it’s hurting me so bad because he didn’t deserve this. This gun violence is just so crazy and it has to stop … I mean for this to happen right after his baby shower was just so wrong,” Kayla said. “He was so happy to be a father.”

Sevron Wright said he always confided in his brother.

“He was a good older brother who I could always talk to. He made sure I didn’t do anything dumb. He’d tell me to go in the house to keep me out of harm’s way,” he said. “I’m going to miss him so much.”

Last year was a record year for children being shot in Baltimore, a disturbing trend that The Banner has tracked since September. That year ended with 84 young shooting victims who were 17 or younger. This year, 62 teens between the ages of 13 and 18 have been shot, according to a Banner analysis.

Ebanks knew her son wasn’t perfect. She said her son was handsome, and that the added attention from girls and hanging out with his friends caused him to shift his focus away from school.

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K’mauri was locked up from March 7 to May 9 on two charges of possession with intent to distribute, and was released on bail. While he was in jail, K’mauri missed his prom, class trip and other senior activities, and missing those moments made him that much more excited to be a father, Ebanks said.

“I’m not saying K’mauri was a saint. I wasn’t with him 24/7 when he left outside this door. But I can only hope that his death can send a message to other mothers to keep an eye out on the company your children keep and check in with them every hour on the hour because you just never know,” Ebanks said.

Shantera Ebanks, mother of K’mauri Ebanks, holds up photos of him in her home on June 6, 2023. She still wears the pink hospital wristband from when he was admitted to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center. (Kaitlin Newman/The Baltimore Banner)

As she grieves for her son, Ebanks is turning to her faith.

“I know God makes no mistakes, so I’m not going to question why my child is gone,” she added. “But we had a good run together — me and him.”

penelope.blackwell@thebaltimorebanner.com

Penelope Blackwell

penelope.blackwell@thebaltimorebanner.com

Penelope Blackwell

Penelope Blackwell is a Breaking News reporter with The Banner. Previously, she covered local government in Durham, NC, for The News & Observer. She received her bachelor’s degree in journalism from Morgan State University and her master’s in journalism from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism.

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