After the death of freshman Carlos Perez from Lake Ridge High School, students and staff showed support by wearing green on Wednesday.

“This wasn’t just a Lake Ridge incident,” Data Specialist Renee Cox said. “It was a MISD incident. By wearing green, we showed them love and support to let them know we’re always there.”

Although students in AFJROTC are required to wear their uniforms on Wednesdays, their sergeant Terry Webster allowed them to wear green in memory of Perez, junior Lisa Basset said.

“Even though we are different, individual schools, we’re still a family,” she said. “It’s weird because you don’t really realize how your life can suddenly end. He was a student just like me, younger actually, and he suddenly died.”

Students and faculty shared the hashtag #WeAreLakeRidge on social media.

“(It) represents togetherness as a district,” senior Nosa Uii’ Ohonba said. “They are a sister school to us and I know others would do the same if it happened to us.”

This school has experienced student losses in the past.

“It could’ve happened to anybody,” Cox said. “We’ve been through something similar and we know that it’s really hard. So you just have to put your arms around everybody and get through it.”

A GoFundMe account has been created for Perez.

“A person is a person,” Basset said. “It doesn’t matter if they went to our school or not. We might be rivals with them on the field, but when something like this happens, we have to recognize the life lost.”