Parents seek answers after death of former Trinity star

Terrence Tusan, a star running back for Trinity High School 2007 to 2010, spent the afternoon of Sunday, Dec. 21, with his mother in their Arlington home watching the Dallas Cowboys beat up on the Indianapolis Colts.

Afterward, he said he was going out with friends to meet up with some girls.

His mother, Donna Tusan, didn’t realize as she rushed off to work the next morning that Terrence was not home — his car was there and, because she was running late, she didn’t go into his room to kiss him goodbye as she normally would do.

When she returned home, the mom became worried because her 22-year-old son was not there. Donna Tusan said she began calling all of his close friends, none of whom had seen him Sunday night.

She fell asleep that night waiting for Terrence to show, and when she awoke around 4:30 the next morning and he still wasn’t there, she was frightened. She called the Arlington police to report him missing.

Donna Tusan could not have imagined that while she was frantically searching for her son and filing a missing person report, Terrence lay dead in the morgue at the Tarrant County medical examiners office, having been shot to death.

The family had not been contacted because the body had no wallet or identification on it.

It was a family friend who decided to check with area hospitals and the medical examiner’s office to see if they had any unidentified patient or body. Terrence had some distinctive tattoos on his chest and back, so images of those markings were sent to the medical examiner.

Terrence’s mom and father, Kevin Tusan, remain in shock about their son’s death, but they’re also “bewildered and confused” over the circumstances of his killing.

Terrence, who was home on Christmas break from studies at Howard University in Washington, D.C. — the school where his parents met — had been killed in Denton along with another young man, Jakobi Dmon Gipson, 18.

Denton police, in a brief report, listed Terrence and Gipson as “suspects” in a home invasion at an apartment complex and said their “victims” received non-life-threatening injuries in the incident.

Police said Gipson was shot inside the apartment and Terrence was shot outside.

Police spokesman Orlando Hinojosa told me this week that “the investigation is still ongoing,” and they had no further details.

A Tarrant County assistant district attorney, speaking for the medical examiner’s office, said “those cases are still pending; therefore, there are no autopsy reports available at this time.”

Kevin Tusan said his son’s character is being damaged by the “suspect” label, especially since Terrence was known as a good person who loved to help people, and one who set examples for younger kids to follow.

He also had a mission: to achieve something his older brother could not, the chance to complete his college education.

Terrence’s only sibling, Joseph, was killed in a bizarre hit-and-run road-rage incident 10 years ago during his freshman year of college at Central University in Oklahoma.

Joseph was riding in the back of pickup when the driver of another truck rammed the vehicle. That driver received a sentence of 320 years, plus life.

Donna Tusan said when Terrence came home this month, he was happy and “content with life.” He was excited about his grades and looking forward to graduating and getting his degree in sports management next December.

Much of what he strove for was with Joseph in mind.

The proud, hurting parents said they take solace in the fact that they knew their children loved them, and from the outpouring of love from across the country from people saying great things about Terrence.

Among the tattoos Terrence had was a picture of his brother, grandfather and grandmother with him at AT&T Stadium. Both brothers also had a tattoo that said: “Only God Can Judge Me.”

This story was originally published January 2, 2015 at 6:37 PM with the headline "Parents seek answers after death of former Trinity star."