On the night of August 26, 2017, 18-year-old Haeveon Martese Chavez Wesley of Minneapolis was shot outside a SuperAmerica gas station in Crystal, Minnesota. Haeveon, a recent Patrick Henry High School graduate and promising football player headed to the University of Minnesota Crookston, was with a 17-year-old friend, Cortez Ananias Williams. Witnesses said the two had been drinking in a car and handling firearms when a single shot struck Haeveon in the chest.

Friends drove Haeveon to North Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at about 11:30 p.m. Cortez later told police the shooting was accidental, saying the gun discharged as they mishandled it while intoxicated; he also admitted during the drive to the hospital that he stopped to hide the guns because he was on juvenile probation. Cortez turned himself in two days later and was charged with second-degree manslaughter; investigators reported inconsistencies between his statements and other evidence.

Haeveon’s family and community remember him as quiet, kind-hearted, protective, and a role model. If anyone has information about what happened that night, please share what you know.