Raymont Dillard, 16, has a brand-new pair of sneakers that he can't bear to wear anymore. They are covered with the blood of Keith "Spudd" Watts, shot to death outside Carrick High School on Wednesday.

Dillard can't bear to wash out the blood either, the last physical trace his childhood friend was to leave on the world.

Yesterday, Dillard's father, Stephon, spoke for him in an interview, saying his son was "mentally messed up" and unable to talk about the shooting. Stephon Dillard said the killing was retribution for an earlier fight over a girl from St. Clair Village.

Dillard was sitting in the back seat of a Geo Tracker on Wednesday afternoon when a Hyundai Sonata carrying the suspects pulled up alongside. A young man inside the Hyundai aimed an assault rifle at Watts, 16, and killed him. Alfred Grimmitt, 17, sitting in the front passenger seat, was shot twice.

Just minutes before, the three friends had been laughing and joking around after deciding to cut ninth period, their last class of the day at Carrick.

"He said they got in the car, laughing still, and Keith turned around to say something to him. That's when the car pulled up and Keith got shot in the head," Dillard said. "He said Spudd's head fell back and all this blood just poured down onto him. He was soaking wet with blood."

Stephon Dillard said his son immediately hunkered down, his body hugging the back seat, keeping his head down on the floor of the car. He stayed there until he heard Grimmitt call his name, trying to see if he was dead, too. When Dillard heard his name, he jumped out the back window of the Tracker. Dillard cut his hands on the broken glass from the window, which had been shot out, his father said.

Dillard and Grimmitt ran to a side door of the high school. Stephon Dillard said his son told him that Grimmitt didn't even realize he was shot until a teacher told him.

"I guess it was just the adrenaline holding him up," said Dillard.

Dillard yesterday said his son is so deeply disturbed by the shooting that he is "like a zombie." He has not talked to Grimmitt or Watts' family in the days since, and will probably not make it to the funeral on Monday.

"It got to him, big time," Stephon Dillard said. "He sees it all day. He can't even sleep. He woke up last night talking about hearing gunshots."

Dillard said his son was fortunate enough to survive this "wake-up call," but faces a choice now: Go the right way, or end up in jail or dead, like his friend Spudd.

Raymont Dillard was involved in a cafeteria brawl that preceded Watts' murder, his father said. He also was on the van from the Academy, an evening program for juvenile delinquents, that was shot up one month ago as Watts was being driven home. Dillard had been dropped off right before the shooting.

The root of the strife was a girl, Dillard said.

"Spudd was messing with some girl, so he got into it with the girl's boyfriend and they fought," Dillard said, saying Watts gave the youth a "fair, one-on-one fight" using only fists, not guns. "Spudd won, and I guess he didn't like that."

Dillard said that his son and Grimmitt both knew Watts was being targeted, but that fact didn't keep them away from their friend. They were not nervous about riding in the Geo Tracker with Watts, he said.

"They figured that friendship was stronger than bullets," he said.

Dillard, 40, grew up in St. Clair Village, and works hanging and finishing drywall. He and his wife, Florine, have four children.

Dillard talked about the history of the neighborhood rivalry between St. Clair Village and Beltzhoover, claiming that the younger generation has been doing drive-bys for at least the last three years but that Watts "is just the first body." He himself was shot multiple times while standing at a St. Clair bus stop last June. He shows off several scars on his torso.

"One thing I can say about St. Clair -- they stick [together]," he said. "Even if they've never hung with you, if they see you fighting, they're jumping in with you, just because you're from St. Clair."

Right now, Dillard is feeling relief that his son came out alive, saying he imagined he "could be with Spudd's grandmother right now, sitting in that morgue." Fearful that the eye-for-an-eye violence will escalate, he will not be sending his son back to Carrick High School.

"[Kids] are not scared to kill, but they're scared to die," he said. "I can see it in his face. Raymont is not a little kid anymore."