Avery Young was 19 and remembered by family as a happy, respectful young man known as AJ with a memorable smile. Loved ones, including his aunt Margaret Torres, described a family devastated by his sudden death.

Just after midnight on August 20, 2021, a burst of gunfire erupted in a business parking lot at the southeast corner of 43rd Avenue and Bethany Home Road in west Phoenix. Phoenix police say two small groups — three adults and two teenagers — had arranged a meeting over social media, reportedly to sell shoes. At some point both groups drew guns and exchanged fire; investigators later determined more than 20 rounds were fired. Three people were shot and taken to hospital; two were pronounced dead and a teenage boy was critically injured but expected to survive. Police identified the three killed as Avery Young, Victor Manuel Cruz (also 19), and 16-year-old Salvador Gomez Medina.

Detectives learned two other adult men went to a different hospital; one was pronounced dead on arrival and the other was uninjured and later detained. Officers said all five involved had been accounted for and there was no further threat to the public. As of August 2021, the case remained unsolved.

If anyone witnessed the shooting or has information about the meeting that led to it, please share what is known with Phoenix police.