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Israel Gamez

Age 18

Woodbridge, Virginia

In awe of his newborn son

“Family was the driving force in his life,” his older sister Maria said.

She saw it in the home-cooked meals he would bring her when she was a struggling single mother. In the pedicures he got with their mother, just so he could spend time with her. She saw it in the way he’d kiss his son — with an “awed look, like ‘I made that,’” Maria recalled. “That baby was everything to him.”

Israel Gamez Jr., 18, was shot and killed during an alleged robbery in Woodbridge, Virginia, on November 4, 2018. His son was 28 days old.

By Prerna Mukherjee · Age 16 and Callie McQuilkin · Age 18
Meet the Reporters

More than 60 young parents

Luis Flores-Bravo

Hardworking father, planning for the future

Raydale Hill

Can no longer create his music

Jaquincy Jawan Ross

Wanted to buy her a scooter

Dex Moore

Death of child leaves baby fatherless

Ricky Lamar Green Jr.

His children never saw him box

Joshua Wright

He left behind a newborn son

Ricardo Del Moro

He wanted to protect our borders

Nai’Asalyn Lasha Brown

Nursing degree unfinished, child never born

Steven Alexander Jr.

He missed his first Father’s Day

Kyle McGowan

Without him, loved ones aren’t whole

LaMar De’Shawn Foster

Son will live without his father

Carnandez A. Davis

New family never to be whole

Doumba Sannoh

Fatal price for the American dream

Chicano Kobe Phillips

A momma’s boy and young father

Aiyonna Clarice Barrett

Her unborn child died with her

Dwight Manning

A child left without a father

Gage Allan Kiser

He will never meet his child

Des'mon Reyshard Anderson

His baby lost her loving dad

James Williams

"Goofy" teen liked to dance in public

Elijah Michael Naranjo

Honor student with plans to enlist