Friends, family gather to mourn slain basketball player

“There are so many innocent young people whose lives are being taken,” she said. “All I can do is do everything right and do something for him ... It's hard picturing life going forward without him.”

Quano Marzette met Hartfield through basketball. They spent the summer playing basketball together, often on the court at Western Hills Baptist Church, 401 SW 44.

“It's sad that something so bad can happen to such a good, kind person,” he said.

He always talked about his family and his future and kept everyone smiling.

Gee Bonds met Hartfield at U.S. Grant and played basketball with him, including AAU basketball for two summers.

The friends had moved apart to go to separate schools — Bonds to Redlands Community College in El Reno and Hartfield to Connors State College in Warner.

The move made them basketball rivals.

In a phone conversation the Sunday night before he was killed, Hartfield encouraged his friend to be successful, play hard and make something of himself.

“He was determined that both of us finish college,” Bonds said. “I want justice for him ... Everything I do from now on, I'm gonna do for him.”