Nicholas Morris' family is having a hard time celebrating him as a hero.
The 17-year-old high school football star was killed when he stepped in front of his sister to shield her from a deadly shootout between an armored-car guard and two bank robbers at a shopping mall."He loved me enough to push me out of the way and take that bullet," Cathy Morris, 19, said of her brother Nicholas. "My brother left this world taking care of his sister."
Nicholas Morris had gone to the mall on Monday with his sister so she could cash her paycheck.
At least 14 rounds were fired in the shootout inside the Deptford Mall. The gunfire also killed one of the robbers after three of his own rounds had struck Nicholas Morris, who was pronounced dead at the scene.
The dead gunman was identified as Vincent Reid, 28, of Camden.
The 22-year-old guard, Rudolph Matlack, and a wounded girl, Maureen Lavin, both remained in critical condition Wednesday after undergoing surgery Monday. Lavin, 15, was hit in the head by a ricocheting bullet.
Authorities recovered three weapons from the mall but were still looking for at least two suspects, including one who may have fled with a money bag snatched from the guard, said Gloucester County Prosecutor Harris Y. Cotton.
The FBI was investigating possible links between the robbery and a half-dozen armored-car holdups this year in Philadelphia and one in Mount Holly, said Agent Sheila Horan.
Morris, a 6-foot-4, 310-pound tackle on the Glassboro High School football team, was being courted by several Division I colleges, Athletic Director Bob Barratt said.