The New Haven Heat, a nonprofit basketball program, invited teens to speak to grief counselors about the death of their 15-year-old classmate.

Kaiden Phillips, a Career High School student, died after he was shot Saturday.

Police believe Kaiden was shot during a fight with another teen. As they look for a suspect, members of New Haven Heat quickly organized grief counselors, therapists and mentors to talk to kids about their feelings at the middle school Thursday evening.

“He’d been playing with us since fifth grade and we wanted to have a safe place for our players and the community,” said Doc Kennedy, high school director for New Haven Heat. “I’m a mentor. I talked to a lot of these kids, but like I tell them, I’m not a professional. I don’t know how the brain works. I don’t know how every part of the grieving process happens or how it’s different for other people. So, when you talk to professionals, they could give you certain skills that I can’t give you or different mindsets to think about or just having a safe place where you can release and don’t have to feel like you’re getting judged.”

Kennedy said Kaiden was a good student and loved to play basketball, playing many times with New Haven Heat at the court at Fair Haven Middle School.

“If we had a gym full time, he’d probably [be] one of those kids that would be here all the time because whenever it was open, he was here,” said Kennedy. “He didn’t want to be outside. He wanted to be in the gym and be with his friends, basketball friends and his family.”

Police, violence intervention groups and city alders offered their support, helping with set up and donating food.

Youth violence hits hard for Alder Frank Redente Jr., who has names of kids who were killed during his 30 years of coaching basketball and street outreach tattooed on his arm.

“Kids need people to fight for them,” he said. “Especially in a community like ours. We need all hands-on deck.”

Kennedy said his hope is that teens can learn to mourn Kaiden in a healthy way and carry those skills with them throughout life.

“Hopefully we start some traction where the community really come together, do things like this all the time when it’s needed, not just in death,” he said.