FORT WORTH, Texas — There is a constant reminder about just how deadly gun violence is outside the apartment of Kenyatta Miller. She is the one family member keeping everyone strong after watching her teenage nephew die from multiple gunshot wounds.
Miller showed at least four different bullet holes in the breezeway where someone gunned down her nephew, Xavier Hullaby. She shared that, as a 15-year-old, Xavier was serious about his passions in life but made time to enjoy laughter.
"He was always joking," said Miller, "he loved eating, he loved playing football, his new passion was boxing."
As part of that new passion, Xavier spent Memorial Day afternoon with his boxing trainer before going to visit his Aunt. The teenager had asked his Aunt Kenyatta to send him a couple of dollars so he could buy a snack and she agreed to Cashapp him when she saw him Monday. Kenyatta was in the shower when he arrived at her apartment in The Arwen on Sycamore School Road in Fort Worth.
"He knocked on the door and asked for me, and before I could get out the shower, I heard gunshots," MIller said.
When Miller got outside, other family members and neighbors led her to Xavier who had been shot multiple times according to police. Miller said she did CPR to try to save Xavier and yelled for people standing near the breezeway to call 911. She shared that while holding Xavier he became unresponsive in her arms as they waited for police and paramedics to arrive.
"He knew I would never leave him," said Kenyatta Miller, "I was right there with him."
Eventually, red-and-blue police lights lit up their apartment complex. Paramedics transported Xavier to the hospital. He did not survive the shooting.
Since then Kenyatta and other family members have held a balloon launch in memory of the teenager. Now, flowers, teddy bears and candles sit in the breezeway under those same bullet holes. It's a pain reminder about the gun violence that has impacted their family.
"Too many kids that got guns. It's senseless," Miller said.
It's senseless because Xavier had just finished 10th grade at Crowley where he played football. His family shared that for his junior year of high school, Xavier would have attended Cam Academy, where he also had plans to join the school's athletic program.
This year, at the very last minute, Xavier wanted to join his classmates for their end-of-year prom activities. So, Miller said she bought him new clothes to wear to prom. She said she is hoping the people outside during the shooting will come forward to help detectives identify his killer.
"You would want someone to come forward if it was your family," said Miller. "There are different ways you can say something. Get justice for my nephew. That's all we ask for is justice."
As Kenyatta and their entire family hopes for justice, they also hope the deadly violence stops.
A spokesperson for the Fort Worth Police Department shared with WFAA Friday that homicide detectives responsible for investigating Hullaby's Murder had no updates on finding his killer. In many cases, investigators keep information on their cases close to the vest.
Anyone with information on who killed Xavier Hullaby can call Crime Stoppers at 817-649-TIPS.