KEENE, Texas — The memorial in front of a Sonic Drive-In restaurant in Keene, Texas, is made of teddy bears and flowers to honor an employee who was shot and killed on the job.
The shooting happened over Mother's Day weekend during Matthew Davis' work shift at the Sonic on South Old Betsy Road in Keene. The Johnson County city is located just outside of Fort Worth and typically sees about one homicide a year on average.
Police said a Sonic customer identified as 20-year-old Angel Gomez started urinating in the restaurant parking lot. Davis confronted Gomez, which led to a fight, according to police.
According to police, investigators believe that's when Gomez's 12-year-old nephew fired an AR-style 22-caliber rifle from the car, striking Davis six times.
A family spokesperson shared with WFAA what his death has done to the family, especially his mother. Davis' family and friends are trying to make sense of his shooting death.
One of the people who got the phone call about the his death was family friend Dr. Joyce Hardge. She is close to Davis' mother and agreed to be their spokesperson.
Hardge is a longtime educator who is also a mother of eight. She has several sons herself.
"They are truly devastated to have lost him," said Hardge. "Mom was at work when she got the news, and he was at work when he was killed."
Hardge, a schoolteacher, warns her students about gun violence.
"I'm an educator, and that is one of the things we talk about in our schools now," Hardge said. "Letting them know that the gun, when they pull the trigger, it's not going to come back. You can't reset or restart or anything. It's real life. Until we start letting our students and our children know this, even the adults, that there is no reset, once you do it, it's over, this is what can happen."
Davis' family shared photos of him over the years with his son. The 32-year-old's mother wants people to know that despite her son's troubled past with the law, her son was back on track.
Davis was using money he made at Sonic to save up enough cash to buy his son an iPhone so they could FaceTime together, according to the family.
His son lives in Louisiana with his mother. Davis' mother shared that he relocated to Keene to restart his life and stay on the right track. She wanted him living in a more productive environment, so he agreed to leave Louisiana recently.
"He tried to make sure he did things right. This time in his life. He would go to work early," said Hardge.
According to his family, Davis loved working as a cook at Sonic. Although he lived only five minutes from the restaurant, he would leave early to arrive at work an hour ahead of time.
He told his mother that one day he hoped to get promoted at work. Davis wanted to be recognized by his supervisors as someone who took his job seriously.
Now, the restaurant marquee reads "God is our refuge" and "Trust in the Lord with all your heart" on the other. That's something his family will do as they plan his funeral.
Davis did not have a life insurance policy, so his family is relying on the kindness of others to donate to a fundraiser that will not only help cover his funeral expenses, but also donate to the care of his 10-year-old son. People interested in helping the Davis family with funeral expenses can make a donation to Rush Funeral Home Pineville in care of Matthew Davis.