Javon Frazier was shot to death at 2121 Main Street just after 11 p.m. on June 18 and his mother told ABC13 that it was an instance of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
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"He was not in a gang. He was a disabled vet, and he goes to church," Claudette Malone Frazier's mother said. "Someone ran up on him and shot him up."
Malone said her son, the only family member living in Houston, was walking home from the gym when he was shot
The Houston Police Department's latest update on the case said the shooter hadn't been arrested and was described as a man last seen in a black hoodie and shorts.
Another man was shot during the same shooting but suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
"If (the suspect) knows he can get away with that, how many other killings has he gotten away with?" Malone asked. "Does anybody in the community know anything? Just say something."
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Frazier was in the city, attending Houston Community College and hoping to get into Rice University.
He wasn't accepted, so he planned to move back to Virginia later this month to attend a school closer to home.
His mother told us she struggles to return her son's body to Virginia for a proper funeral and burial.
"The strain is that I have to pay two funeral homes," she explained.
Frazier's murder comes as the area of Midtown is changing. The McDonald's that once stood the shooting scene was demolished earlier this year, and the nearby Greyhound bus station is set to close as developers look to transform the area.
The ABC13 Neighborhood Safety Tracker, which uses data from HPD, indicates there have been three homicides in this part of Midtown in the last 12 months. Only two were in 2022, but 2021 saw 11 murders in the area.
Frazier's family has set up a GoFundMe page to help get his body back home for a proper funeral and burial.
Anyone with information on the suspect's whereabouts is urged to call Crime Stoppers of Houston anonymously at 713-222-TIPS.