Boys and girls in stocking feet danced to honor E’vaa Sewell today as the body of their 10-year-old friend lay in an open casket a few feet away, in the sanctuary of Metropolitan United Methodist Church on Lafayette Square in West Baltimore.

The children danced to “This Is Me,” with lyrics that include the words: “I am brave, I am bruised, I am who I’m meant to be. . .”

They danced down the main aisle of the church, raising their arms, clapping their hands, skipping to the right, skipping to the left, twisting and turning in unison.

Each wore black pullovers bearing an image of E’vaa, their teammate from the Northeast Elite Dance Group.

The dancing peaked with a series of robust movements, then slowed and faded as the children lay on the carpeted aisle.

When the music ended, the adults in the packed church broke into applause for the surprising and beautiful tribute.

Heartbreaking and Preventable

The funeral of E’vaa Sewell, a girl who loved to dance, took place 11 days after she died in the Johns Hopkins Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. Her death came four days after she accidentally shot herself with a gun in her grandmother’s house in northwest Baltimore. The shooting occurred on Saturday, January 25.

The girl’s 51-year-old grandmother, Althea Mitchell, is being held on multiple charges, including firearm access by a minor, firearm possession with a felony conviction and possession of a stolen firearm.

“This incident is yet another heartbreaking tragedy involving an innocent child shot due to a guardian irresponsibly possessing a stolen gun and failing to prioritize gun safety and security,” Police Commissioner Richard Worley said the day of the shooting.

“It is both infuriating and, most importantly, preventable,” Worley said.

E’vaa’s death hit her church community hard, said the Rev. Rodney Hudson, the pastor of Ames Memorial United Methodist Church and leader of the Resurrection Sandtown project.

Dozens of people had gone to Hopkins to keep a vigil while the doctors and nurses there cared for the girl. Many of E’vaa’s classmates from Walter P. Carter Elementary/Middle School went to the hospital with parents.

E’vaa’s room was decorated with all kinds of hand-made flowers, photographs, dolls and stuffed animals.

After she died, about 200 adults and children gathered for an evening vigil outside the northeast Baltimore home of Tammie Garrett-Edwards, E’vaa’s caregiver for much of her life.

“Strong young lady”

Hudson, the eulogist at E’vaa’s funeral, had baptized the girl when she was an infant. E’vaa would have turned 11 on February 11.

She was a “strong young lady” and full of energy, Hudson said.

“You’ve got to keep moving,” Hudson told the mourners, recalling the girl’s playful pleadings that her pastor keep up with her. “You’ve got to keep moving.”

“E’vaa was lively, she was bright, she was talented, and everyone loved her”  – Tammie Garrett-Edwards.

Dance became a big part of E’vaa’s life, and so it was included in her funeral, with Northeast Elite, a team associated with her school, performing first, followed by the Ames Anointed Praise Dancers, from the girl’s church.

Dressed in white robes and purple sashes, Anointed Praise performed a serene interpretative dance to a gospel song, “For Your Glory.”

Garrett-Edwards planned the service and made sure dance was central. The program for the service referred to E’vaa’s birth as the day she “danced into our hearts,” the day of her death as the day she “danced into heaven.”

“E’vaa was lively, she was bright, she was talented, and everyone loved her,” Garrett-Edwards said.

“The service was more beautiful than I could have imagined. I wanted it to reflect who E’vaa was, and I believe it did.”