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James Kevin-Vidal Gonzalez

Age 11

Rowlett, Texas

His classmates called him ”Mr. Cool”

He loved learning songs from Metallica; he was, after all, named after the band’s lead singer, James Hetfield. He was an affectionate and helpful student; in fourth and fifth grade, he started every class by offering to fill up his teacher’s mug with water.

Classmates of the sixth-grader at Coyle Middle School described him as “Mr. Cool; always dressed to the nines with a famous head of hair and a smile that would melt your heart.”

On May 5, 2018, James Kevin-Vidal Gonzalez, 11, was shot by his dad at home in Rowlett, Texas. His dad then turned the gun on himself.

By Mary Claire Molloy · Age 18
Meet the Reporters

More than 80 musicians

Taveon Donte' Brooks

Basketball point guard, would-be rapper

Raydale Hill

Can no longer create his music

Elijah Foster

Dope Boy Gang. One less member.

Vicente Valero III

He was a modern Renaissance man

Beverly McBride

Purple hair, just like her dad

Ricky Ryon Willis III

YouTuber was destined for great things

Ramon Enriquez Barragan

Born, raised, died in Garden City

Robert Spencer Biggers Jr.

Local rapper who loved his familyi

Trevon Fareed Richardson

College, football, a scholarship. All lost.

James Claggion IV

Left hometown for fame in Atlanta

Zachary Mulford

Summer job turns into winter grief

Bryan Portales Escalante

Phone, wallet, shoes and, life — gone

Darion Gordon

Sixteen years erased by one bullet

Ke’Andre Johnson

Cut off after only one verse

Kaileigh Lin Collier

Was “more beautiful than she knew”

Carnandez A. Davis

New family never to be whole

Taylor Hayes

A star on her karaoke machine

Arthur Roger Holloway III

His obituary ran in two states

Montrell Anthony Mouzon

His dream of witnessing motocross shattered

Brandon Nash Hammett

‘The music master’ killed before college