WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A West Palm Beach family is heartbroken after 19-year-old Christian Tavares Jr. was shot and killed Monday night.
"He was funny, when he would laugh it was like this contagious laugh, I loved his laugh," Tavares' mother, Kathy Maldonado, said.
WPTV reporter Joel Lopez met with Maldonado who shared her son's story, clinging onto one of his t-shirts, as it still smells like her son.
"I can't believe he's gone," said Maldonado.
Tavares graduated from Forest Hill High School last year and was going to Palm Beach State College and was one week away from graduating and achieving his dream to be a mechanic.
"He almost made it, to be someone, finish school, his college, he had his little car that he loved, it's just so senseless to me, I don't understand it," said Maldonado.
She said Tavares had just had dinner with the family and then went to hang out with his friends.
"What have you heard happened?" asked WPTV's Joel Lopez.
"All we know is that the friend said the gun fell on the floor and he was sitting (Tavares) in the back seat and the gun went off," recounts Tavares' sister Veronica. "He got shot in the side here and he said take me to the hospital."
WPTV reached out to West Palm Beach Police for answers and told us there were four teens in a car. The teens were around the same age and were all from West Palm Beach.
WPBPD confirmed that the victim, Tavares. was in the backseat when a gun was discharged.
They were in the process of driving him to JFK - when the car hit something on the roadway and became disabled.
The teens called Florida Highway Patrol and Tavares was transported Delray Medical Trauma Center where he died.
The investigation is ongoing, but WPBPD said no arrests have been made at this time.
"They shouldn't have guns, they're children, they don't know safety, look what happened to my son now. and they're living their life like nothing," said Maldonado. "He's dead, lost his whole life, left his mother, sisters alone, his family."
Tavares was the middle child, with an older and younger sister. He also leaves behind his dog named Penny.
"His dog was his everything, she's looking for him. She's depressed, she's laying on his clothes," said Maldonado.
The family is planning a funeral and a memorial while they wait for answers on what happened in the moments leading up to that fatal shot in the car.
If you'd like to help the family, you can donate at their official GoFundMe.
