Since graduating from high school, Jalanni Pless had been working and saving money, often helping his mother with her bills. He had been applying to technical colleges, hoping for an automotive degree. On June 27, Jalanni was gunned down while selling water bottles to passing motorists along 8th Street in Midtown. He was 18. “They took all of me when they took him,” said his mother, Tomeka Pless. A juvenile was charged with murder.