‘We can’t stop.’ Two families unite at Fort Worth vigil to remember loved ones killed.
At a vigil Monday night, more than a hundred people gathered to remember a woman who catered to others in her business and in life, and shared stories about a young man who always brought a smile to those lucky enough to be around him.
Evan Lacey, 19, and Queenette (Queenie) Johnson, 39, were both homicide victims in separate acts of violence in Arlington and Fort Worth, according to police.
Lacey’s body was found Jan. 3, two weeks after his family reported him missing from Arlington. He died from a gunshot wound and his death was classified as a homicide. Police are still searching for suspects, Arlington police said Monday.
Johnson’s father shot and killed her inside an SUV on Thursday, according to an arrest warrant from Fort Worth detectives. The two had driven to a bank when they argued and he shot her multiple times, the warrant said.
Friends and family of Lacey and Johnson took turns sharing stories about the two at 7 p.m. Monday outside the Tarrant County Courthouse. Some people held balloons and others shielded candles from a brisk wind.
A brother and best friend
Lacey was a 2018 Arlington Seguin High School graduate and former football player. One of Lacey’s best friends, Kristopher Moore, said they hung out nearly every day and every time Moore called him, Lacey was up for anything.
“It’s just like having someone next to you every day, and you look back and they’re not there no more,” he said at the vigil. “It hurts me every day that I don’t get to see my brother with that smile on his face.”
He described Lacey as selfless and someone who “never caused anyone no harm.”
“Evan was my best friend,” he said. “Still is.”
Evan’s aunt Tailar Lacey said at the vigil that the family has had a difficult few weeks, between searching for the missing 19-year-old and then receiving the news that his body had been found by Arlington city utility employees in a wooded area in the 7100 block of Webb Ferrell Road.
She said they keep asking why something like this happened.
“The only thing I can think is to help highlight the horrible epidemic that is currently in all of our communities within the United States, where people are being snatched overnight,” Tailar Lacey said. “So many missing persons are currently out there. Their families are longing for them to come home.
“So I want to remind you, kiss your loved ones. Tell them every day that you love them because tomorrow is not promised.”
She also thanked those who helped search for Evan after he was last seen on Dec. 17 heading to his job in Grand Prairie. She said people handed out fliers, physically looked for him or said prayers for the family.
“I feel that God possibly allowed this to happen to share that love with everyone, because Evan was really loved,” she said.
One of Lacey’s high school football coaches, who said he has been coaching for 14 years and tries to make a positive impact on students, said it was Lacey who made the impact on him.
“Everything he did, he went all out,” he said.
The coach said Lacey and his friends made him laugh harder than he ever has while coaching football. He described Lacey as one of the “most remarkable student athletes” he had ever coached.
Vivian Lacey, Evan’s sister, spoke briefly in front of the crowd. She thanked everyone for coming.
“Let’s stay strong, and let’s be a community so something like this can’t ever happen again,” she said.
‘She would be telling you to keep going.’
Johnson had four children and managed Fed By a Queen catering services in Fort Worth. Her family emphasized how she took care of her children, family, community and church.
“She was a presence wherever she would go,” said Brent Johnson, one of Queenie’s brothers.
With three older brothers, Queenie grew up feisty and strong, Brent said.
“She had a lot of fight, and she turned that fight around to helping other people,” he said.
Queenie was a natural caretaker, often serving others in ways they did not even realize, Laurence Johnson, another of her brothers, said at the vigil. He described her as “the heartbeat” of the family.
Johnnie Johnson said his little sister “took care of business.”
“That’s what Fed by a Queen means,” he said. “It’s more than feeding food. It’s feeding your life, feeding your emotions, feeding your spirit. And that’s one thing she left on this earth.”
Queenie was taking care of her 72-year-old father, who was in between living in his apartment and buying a house, Brent said. The rest of the family was mostly estranged from Alvie Johnson, but Queenie was trying to help him because “that was who she was,” Brent said.
On Thursday, Queenie was driving her father to the bank. Alvie later told a Fort Worth detective they were arguing about money. When they pulled into the parking lot, Alvie got out of the passenger seat of the SUV, walked to the back hatch and jumped inside, according to a warrant.
Queenie started to drive away, and Alvie pulled out a pistol and shot her multiple times, the warrant says. The SUV crashed through a fence and into a tree in east Fort Worth.
Alvie got out of the car, walked up to his daughter and saw she was still breathing, he told detectives. He shot her once more in the head.
Brent Johnson said there are no excuses for what his father did.
“My feelings toward him are ones of apathy,” he said. “There is nothing. No feelings. No thoughts.”
Instead, he wants to focus on Queenie and the impact she left behind.
“When it happened, I was driving down the street on the highway,” he said. “I saw cars cutting each other off. I saw people in restaurants still eating food like nothing was going on. And in my life, my whole world had just changed.
“But the world was still going. Nothing stops. Nothing stops. So we can’t stop. And if she was to be here, she would tell you not to stop. She would be telling you to keep going.”
At 8:30 p.m., those gathered outside the courthouse released balloons into the air in honor of Queenie Johnson and Evan Lacey.
A few heart-shaped balloons caught in nearby trees. Another bundle wrapped around the flagpole.
But about a dozen of the balloons were carried by the cold breeze and floated high above the crowd, briefly silhouetted by the white lights of the buildings behind them, before they disappeared.
This story was originally published January 6, 2020 at 10:25 PM.
