SOUTH HOLLAND, Ill. (WLS) — A reward is being offered in the murder of a high school basketball player.

Loved-ones of Davell Holden made an emotional appeal for justice Wednesday, encouraged by the new reward that’s been offered and lifted up by the support of their community.

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Holden,16, was a student at Thornwood High School and was about to start his junior year.

He was shot and killed on Saturday evening near 160th and Drexel in South Holland, police said. Details surrounding the shooting remain unclear.

The Village of South Holland and St. Sabina Priest Father Michael Pfleger are offering up to $10,000 for information leading to an arrest.

“I still don’t really know what happened; I just know he left here, went over there, and I got a phone call, tragic phone call about him being shot, something that I could never have imagined,” mother Angela Birts said. “Everyone is honoring my son, knowing that great young man. I’m sorry that I only got 16 years, but I am grateful for those 16 years.”

One by one, loved ones arrived to a vigil Wednesday night with broken hearts, holding balloons and each other in a poignant show of strength.

“My baby was loved by so many people, and this is just a testament of it,” Brits said.

The bittersweet remembrance was held on the grounds of Thornwood High School where Holden stood tall on the basketball court and in life.

READ MORE | Boy, 16, killed in South Holland shooting ID’d as Thornwood High School basketball player

“Purity, honesty, and effort. Those defined his life. Those were his core values,” friend Kay’Shaun Thomas said.

Holden was set to start his junior year next week.

“Who and why? Why would somebody want to do this to my son?” Brits said. “My son didn’t do anything to anybody.”

An honors student who excelled in math and English, Holden had dreams of playing college basketball…

With some in the crowd at the vigil wearing his #21, they offered a soaring tribute in the soft of light dusk that reflected his future, which had no limits. His potential was cut short in a moment his loved-ones can’t reconcile.

“It’s heartbreaking, but it’s eye-opening,” Thomas said. “We gotta be better. We gotta mature. We gotta grow.”

The South Suburban Major Crimes Task Force is investigating.