The community is in mourning after the shooting death of Clayton Mason, 25, in Chattanooga on Tuesday night.
Friends, coworkers and those who loved him describe Mason as “a wonderful soul” who was dedicated to helping his neighbors, passionate about education and hoped to improve his community.
Born and raised in Chattanooga, Mason graduated from The Howard School. He was a drum major in the Hustlin’ Tigers Marching Band and was a participant in a student leadership development program.
Mason went on to attend Morehouse College, worked at Orchard Knob Middle School, worked with the GEAR UP program housed at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and, most recently, at Baylor School. He even spent a year teaching overseas in Indonesia.
Adara Joiner, an English teacher at Soddy-Daisy High School, worked with Mason at Orchard Knob Middle School in 2016, when they were both first-year teachers.