‘Big Lex’ had big dreams. A ‘senseless’ shooting took young MS Coast woman’s life at 19.
Alexis McLaurin wanted to take care of people.
The popular 19-year-old Gulfport woman known as “Big Lex” planned to become a certified nursing assistant and, eventually, a registered nurse, said her close friend Sarahdrick Mitchell.
The two, who graduated from Gulfport High School in 2022 and had been friends since sixth grade, were going together to get their certification in Mobile.
Today, Mitchell has only memories of McLaurin. He is still in shock over her death early Saturday morning in his apartment, where they were hanging out with friends while his mother slept. Mitchell was so bereft, he couldn’t talk about what happened. But he confirmed what McLaurin’s mother said she learned about her daughter’s death.
Two 15-year-olds in the apartment were on the floor tussling with a gun. It went off, killing McLaurin. She was dead by the time police arrived.
Mitchell called what happened an “accident” and said it could have been avoided if only the teens hadn’t been playing with the gun.
“I’m just trying to take it day by day,” he said, his voice flat with grief.
Gulfport teen devoted to fashion
McLaurin and her mother, Alfreda Sullivan, were a team at the Wendy’s on Pass Road in Gulfport, where both worked. Everyone seemed to know them. Sullivan had worked there for years, leaving for a state job and then returning several years ago.
Sullivan was a manager, while her daughter rose from cashier to shift leader. The ladies were co-workers more than mother-daughter at Wendy’s because both were hard workers and serious about their jobs.
McLaurin, the second oldest of six children, doted on her three youngest siblings, ages 9, 5 and 3. She loved children, especially babies and preschoolers.
McLaurin was also devoted to fashion. She spent her money on her hair, nails and clothes. Anytime a new shoe came out, she and Mitchell had to have a pair, he said, plus a new outfit to go with them.
She liked to wear her hair in long braids. “She has always been girlie, girlie, girlie,” her mother said, still unable to speak of her daughter in the past tense.
How the shooting happened
Sullivan said she received a call from Sarahdrick at 1 a.m. Saturday. He said McLaurin had been shot and her mom needed to get there. Sullivan didn’t believe him at first. When she heard yelling and screaming on the other end of the line, she hung up and rushed to the apartments in Bayou View.
Sullivan waited about an hour, while the police were working the scene, to learn her daughter was dead.
“It seem so unreal to me,” she said Monday, calling the shooting “senseless.” She feels someone should be held accountable, although she’s not sure who.
The two 15-year-olds, Kavion Dakari Hannibal and Desean Curtis Cooper, were charged with manslaughter over McLaurin’s death.
“We’re still trying to process it,” Sullivan said. “I have yet to see her body, so I am in disbelief right now.”
Family plans McLaurin’s funeral
The family will bury McLaurin on Sept. 8. Sullivan told her 9-year-old daughter that her big sister is dead, but she’s not sure the two little ones would understand. They keep asking, “Where’s Lexis? When is Lexis coming home,” their mom said.
Sullivan had been taking care of her father until April, when he died. The family talked and decided to move to Georgia for a fresh start. They were planning to leave Sept. 1. McLaurin was going to her nursing certification in Mobile, Mitchell said, and relocate with her family.
Plans for the move are still on, Sullivan said. They’ll just be delayed. Sullivan has started a GoFundMe account to raise money for her daughter’s funeral. On Wednesday afternoon, $1,820 of the $10,000 goal had been raised. Marshall Funeral Home in Biloxi is in charge of the arrangements.
This story was originally published August 31, 2023 at 7:00 AM.
