Trey’Shawn Eunes, 12-year-old killed in Fort Worth shooting, remembered for his smile
Trey’Shawn Eunes, a 12-year-old shot and killed at a Juneteenth barbecue in Fort Worth on June 19, was a loving, funny, goofy intelligent boy who was thrilled to learn about science, enjoyed playing PlayStation and was proud to be an uncle to his baby niece, his mother, Lakesha Bay, told the Star-Telegram.
“My heart is broken,” Bay said. “It’s broken for Trey’Shawn. He should still be alive.”
Trey’Shawn, though he was only 12, made a big impact on the people around him. Community members gathered Sunday for a fundraiser for his family at Daesy’s Tropical Sno in Arlington, arranged by the owner of the snow cone shop and some of Trey’Shawn’s teachers. Heather Boggs, Trey’Shawn’s sixth-grade science teacher at J.B. Little Elementary in Arlington, said that when she heard about what happened to her student, she had to do something.
“He was one of those kids that everybody loved,” Boggs told the Star-Telegram. “He tried hard in everything that he did. He was very adamant about asking questions when he didn’t understand something. When he was in a group, he was very lighthearted. If things got intense, Trey’Shawn was always the comedic relief to get everyone back on track.”
Boggs said that Trey’Shawn was adaptable to situations, whether they were in the classroom or at recess. He always had a group of people who wanted to be around him. And Bay said that wasn’t just because he was popular.
“He really just liked to be friends with everybody,” his mother said. “If there was a kid at the park being left out, he would be going to that one kid who wasn’t playing with anybody and bring that kid into the group. That’s the kind of person Trey’Shawn was. He loved to bring people together.”
TreyShawn died in the hospital after he was shot in the side and a bullet went through his lung, his mother said. She said that she’s been told by police and by Trey’Shawn’s father, who was at the party, that a toddler found a gun and accidentally shot him. The shooting occurred at a music studio in a strip mall at 5504 Brentwood Stair Road, where the gathering was held and where his family said Trey’Shawn was playing video games.
His mother wants answers, but says she isn’t getting them from Fort Worth police.
“At the time when my son passed at Cook Children’s, that detective met me there and he told me, ‘I will work on your son’s case non-stop. You’ll get tired of hearing from me,’ “ Bay said. “I haven’t heard from him once. I’ve been the one calling him.”
She doesn’t believe the narrative that her son was killed when a toddler accidentally fired a gun and shot him and said she needs proof. She’s been told the gun is missing. Either way, she wants somebody to be brought up on charges. Instead, she said she’s been left in the dark.
Police have not commented publicly on what led up to the shooting and have not announced any arrests in the case. The Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office is conducting an autopsy but has not yet ruled on Trey’Shawn’s cause or manner of death.
One thing that has kept Bay going over the past week is the support she’s seen from the community. From donations on a GoFundMe and the fundraiser for funeral expenses hosted by teachers and the snow cone store to people walking up to her when she’s out somewhere, Bay said the love she’s seen from the community has been comforting.
“Everywhere I go people are stopping me and telling me stories of them with Trey’Shawn and telling me they’re going to miss Trey’Shawn, getting emotional,” Bay said. “He touched a lot of lives while he was here. He was exactly the kind of boy a parent wants to raise.”
Both Bay and Boggs said one of the things that made it so easy for Trey’Shawn to make new friends was his smile.
“If you met Trey’Shawn you would instantly like him. He was gonna make sure you like him,” Bay said. “All he really had to do was smile at you.”
Bay’s favorite recent memory with Trey’Shawn was when she and her older son told him he was going to be an uncle. The excitement he showed when he saw his mother and older brother wearing shirts announcing that he would be an uncle is impossible to describe, she said. They recently ordered him a shirt.
“He had pictures of his baby niece, Brooklyn, he would show to his teachers all the time in class,” Bay said. “He loved his niece, and that’s my proudest, best, most recent moment with Trey. Yesterday was her 1st birthday and we wore those shirts. Trey’s shirt arrived in the mail yesterday and he never got to wear it.”
She said she’ll be giving the shirt to him at his funeral Friday. Bay said the fact that he never got to wear it makes her need to get answers from police and see justice for her son even stronger.