Gabriel Orlando Fernandez
Age 13
Houston, Texas
Friends thought gun was a toy
He was doing what kids usually do with friends: Laughing, joking and messing around. Nothing too serious, so they thought.
He was in his best friend’s backyard passing around what they thought was just “a toy.” Then tragedy struck. His mother, a nurse, raced over. She said he was still breathing. Maybe he’d someday play football again.
Instead, she saw him take his final breath. One friend said, “He didn’t deserve this, but that’s just how life goes.”
Gabriel Orlando Fernandez died from an accidental gunshot wound to the head in Houston on Jan. 19, 2019. He was 13 years old.
