Family mourns Fort Worth teen shot at party. ‘He wanted to make everybody happy’

Emiliano Serna was the type of person to give his whole world to friends, his older brother Oliver Serna said.

Emiliano was always singing and dancing, Oliver said. He was the party, and even though his family told him not to attend one happening on Sunday night, when his friends wanted to borrow a speaker, he went with them.

Emiliano, 19, died early Monday morning at that house party in the 7100 block of Avington Way. After a fight reportedly escalated between him and another person, he was shot.

Fort Worth police homicide detectives have said they are searching for the shooter and trying to determine if that same suspect also killed another victim who was found in a car nearby. The Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the second victim as 18-year-old Logan Thomas Cantrell.

Their mother had never liked parties with teenagers, Oliver said. “Teenagers do stupid things sometimes,” she told them. She would warn Emiliano and tell him to be careful. She and his stepfather told him they thought he shouldn’t go to the party.

But his friends wanted him there, Oliver said, and before he left, Emiliano showed his outfit off to Oliver. Oliver told him that he looked good.

“That was the last thing I said to him. ‘You look good,’” Oliver said.

Emiliano and his brother were very different, Oliver said, but they were there for each other. “We were always taking care of each other and loving each other, even though we wouldn’t understand each other.”

Oliver said that Emiliano wasn’t outwardly affectionate toward his family, but he would show that he loved them in different ways.

He would give his brother his shirt if Oliver liked it, Oliver said. He had a tattoo of his grandfather’s name on his right arm. He wanted tattoos of his mother’s name, his little sister’s name, and Oliver’s name.

Emiliano had his ways of showing that he was comfortable around his family, Oliver said. He would sit next to Oliver for his brother to scratch his head. He would lie in his mother’s room for her to scratch his back.

Emiliano always wanted to play video games with Oliver, his brother said. He would listen to Katy Perry and Lady Gaga because of Oliver. He listened to the music their grandparents would play when he was young.

He would play music all day, even when they told him to turn it down, Oliver said. “He wanted to make everybody happy. He just wanted the world to hear his music.”

As a child, he loved Justin Bieber, Oliver said. He even got Bieber’s haircut when he was 4, because he wanted to be just like him.

“He was obsessed with Justin Bieber when he was 4. Yeah, that was my little brother,” Oliver said. “He was so funny.”

If anyone had questions about their car, Emiliano was the one to go to, Oliver said. He knew every type and every model, and when they drove on the freeway, he would record the cars he liked, telling everyone around him to look.

“He would act like a little boy, like he was still 4,” Oliver said. “Those are the moments where he would act like he was still a little kid.”

Emiliano wanted a little girl of his own, Oliver said. His 4-year-old dog, Candy, was his little girl in the meantime.

“She’s still here. She’s mourning,” Oliver said. “She’s sad. ... She misses him so much.” Candy was in his room while Oliver spoke to the Star-Telegram.

He wanted a nice job to buy a farm or a ranch where all of his family could be with him, Oliver said.

He had grown up in Mexico, and there, he would go to their great-great-grandmother’s ranch, Oliver said.

“That was the happiest place that he could be, there with all the animals and dogs,” Oliver said. Oliver said Emiliano had a lot of empathy and wanted to save all of the dogs and cats in the world.

At the house party on Sunday night, he was planning to play video games, Oliver said.

Family learned about shooting after knock on door

His family found out about the shooting when one of his friend’s grandmothers knocked on their door about 2:30 a.m., Oliver said. They didn’t know anything other than that Emiliano had been shot.

The whole family started heading over to the house where the party was, Oliver said. Oliver’s grandmother called him screaming, and Oliver and his husband raced to get there.

“I got there to my mom. My mom, she was just scared and screaming, asking where my brother was, because we couldn’t see him. We didn’t know where he was,” Oliver said.

About five minutes later, the paramedics told Oliver and his family that Emiliano had died. Oliver said that he and his family stayed with Emiliano.

“We were just sitting there until 7 in the morning, until they took his body,” Oliver said. Emiliano’s family still does not know what led up to his death or who shot him.

Emiliano’s family released balloons at his favorite park on Tuesday evening, according to Oliver. They also plan to place flowers where he died.

Oliver reminded people to hug their siblings, something Emiliano said once in a while when he thought about his mother, who has lost all of hers, Oliver said.

“Be kind to each other,” Oliver said. “Love your brothers and hug your babies.”

Gabriela Serna, one of Emiliano’s family members, started a GoFundMe for his funeral and medical expenses.

This story was originally published July 23, 2025 at 5:33 PM.