POWDER SPRINGS - Rajaan Bennett's 18 years on earth were not easy, but by all accounts he spent them wisely.

About seven years ago, Rajaan's father was killed while the family was living in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Since then, the family moved to Powder Springs and Rajaan had been the man of the house, helping his mother care for two younger children.

"Family was just extremely important to him," said Jimmy Dorsey, McEachern's athletic director who coached Rajaan his first two years at the school. "You don't find many kids who are mature enough yet to understand how important family is, but Rajaan did."

Rajaan was shot and killed about 2:30 a.m. Thursday at his family's Powder Springs home. Police said the suspected shooter, Clifton O'Neal Steger, 39, then died of a self-inflicted gunshot to the head. Steger, of Milledgeville, had previously dated Rajaan's mother, Narjaketha Bennett.

Rajaan's uncle, Taiwan Hunter, 32, was also shot inside the home. He was listed in critical condition after undergoing surgery for life-threatening injuries at Atlanta Medical Center on Thursday, Powder Springs Police Maj. Charles Spann said.

McEachern football coach Kyle Hockman said McEachern students were in shock. Several gathered last night for a vigil at Powder Springs Park.

"They don't really know that he's gone. Yeah, he's not here right now, but they don't miss him yet in the classroom or the weight room or on the track. There's been some outbursts, and there's been a lot of togetherness," Hockman said.

Rajaan had rushed for more than 1,800 yards during the Indians' 10-0 regular season last fall, and in December was named the Georgia High School Class AAAAA Offensive Player of the Year by the Associated Press.

Rajaan had nearly a dozen scholarship offers to choose from, and on Feb. 3 he signed a letter of intent to play football at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. His mother and siblings were with him that day, as was Steger.

"It was a proud day for all of us," Dorsey said. "His choice to go to Vanderbilt was not all football related. He was interested in the academics, too."

At home, Rajaan helped care for his brother, Desycon, a non-verbal special needs student who also attends McEachern. Rajaan told the Journal in December that juggling family and football had helped prepare him for the future.

"I've been doing it so long, it isn't too hard now," he said. "College for me won't be that bad with classes and working out my schedule, because I'm used to that. I think everything worked out for the better."

Dorsey said Rajaan had maintained a 3.8 grade point average, and had talked of being an architect or doing some kind of construction design.

Rajaan's mother knew the Vanderbilt scholarship "was Rajaan's ticket to rewrite his destiny," Dorsey said, and Rajaan saw he had "an opportunity to better his family's life in the future."

Rajaan had been Vanderbilt's top recruit, and in a posting on Vanderbilt's website on Thursday, head coach Bobby Johnson said Rajaan "was an ideal fit for Vanderbilt University."

"As we got to know Rajaan, it became very clear to our coaches that he was a better person than he was an athlete. He was a leader, a young man who gained the respect of the entire community at McEachern High School," Johnson added.

Kyle Woestmann, of Walton High School, met Bennett during the college-recruiting process, and the two built a friendship while playing in the Cobb Senior Bowl and the North-South All-Star game.

Woestmann had also signed to play with Vanderbilt, and had looked forward to being there with Rajaan. The news of Rajaan's murder "broke my heart," he said.

"It's amazing how some of the best people in the world get dealt the worst," Woestmann said. "It's a waste of possibly the best person I've met in my life."

Grant Ramsay, another local player heading to Vanderbilt in the fall, said he learned of Rajaan's death from a friend who called him from the state wrestling tournament in Gwinnett, where a moment of silence was held.

"He was one of the most remarkable people I've met in my life," said Ramsay, an offensive lineman at Pope High School. "He went through tough times and didn't crumble. He made the best of every situation. The world isn't as good a place without him. It's just awful."

Hockman, McEachern's coach, said: "Any time you have a star athlete, you develop a relationship with him as a coach, but there's much more to it with Rajaan. His humbleness, his maturity, his idea of family first - he made me a better person, there's no question about it."

Dorsey choked up as he recalled running into Rajaan on Wednesday afternoon as Rajaan was getting ready to take his brother home from school.

"It was the most eerie thing. I just hugged his neck and said 'Rajann, you're one special guy. You must have wings under your coat because you're an angel.' I've never said that to a person in my life, but it just seemed the appropriate thing because once again he was there for his brother," Dorsey said.

Kathryn Dobies and Emily Horos contributed to this article.