Xzavier Cheatom, 18, who had known Hallback since middle school, helped recruit him to participate in the Baltimore Algebra Project.
Cheatom said he was with Hallback at the bus stop when he was shot. He said it was too painful to discuss details of the shooting. Police have said that Hallback did not have any money on him when he was shot shortly after 8 p.m.
Cheatom said he was frustrated that police hadn't arrested a suspect, given the many security cameras in the area. "The killer is still on the loose," he said. "It seems like nobody's doing anything."
Hallback was the second of four children, Cheatom said, and lived with an older brother, a younger brother, a baby sister and his mother.
Cheatom said he and Hallback became friends while they attended Lombard Middle School. Hallback attended the National Academy Foundation high school in South Baltimore for his freshman year, then transferred to Patterson High, closer to his home on the east side, Cheatom said. He dropped out in 2006 because, Cheatom said, "he was lonely. He didn't really know anybody. A lot of his friends went to different schools."
Hallback was taking General Educational Development classes at one of Baltimore's Youth Opportunity Centers. Cheatom said he had taken his GED test within the past month but that he didn' t know whether his friend had received the results before he died.
On the Saturday before his death, Hallback attended an organizational meeting at the Algebra Project's office on North Charles Street to help plan a "die-in" in Annapolis Feb. 6 to protest cuts in education funding. The group has staged similar demonstrations, in which students lie in the streets pretending to be dead because of what they consider the state's inadequate funding of schools.
In his spare time, Hallback loved singing and rapping, Cheatom said. He wrote songs in his spare time and sang at church. When he hung out with his friends, he enjoyed playing video games, watching television and listening to music.
"We were trying to do a lot of stuff to be successful at life," Cheatom said. "He charmed everyone. He really got along with everyone. Every person he met was his friend."
The shooting occurred across the street from City College and drew the attention of student leaders and school officials.
At a PTA meeting Tuesday night at City College, student government president Celia Neustadt spoke about what happened to Hallback in calling for an increased police presence around the school.
Andres Alonso, chief executive officer of the city schools, who attended the meeting, said there has been an increased police presence around the school until 8 p.m. The shooting occurred shortly after 8 p.m., police said.
"Zach's only crime was that he had no money or cell phone in his pocket," Neustadt said.
gus.sentementes@baltsun.com sara.neufeld@baltsun.com
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