Walmart

Classmates Hold Vigil to Remember 15-Year-Old Killed in El Paso Shooting

Javier Rodriguez played soccer at Horizon High School

Classmates held a vigil Monday night to remember an El Paso teenager killed in Saturday's Walmart rampage.

Javier Rodriguez, 15, was with his uncle buying school supplies when the gunfire rang out.

"All the sudden I see people running and I hear gunshots," Rodriguez's uncle Octavio Lizarde said. "And I just told him, 'Amir, duck!' And he just shot him."

Lizarde was shot in the foot and remains hospitalized.

In an interview from his hospital bed, Lizarde said he couldn't stop thinking about his nephew.

"He was like my son, my best friend," he said.

Rodriguez's cousin Valeria Chavez said the family was devastated.

"We didn't expect anything like this happening," she said.

Rodriguez was a sophomore at Horizon High School just outside El Paso. Classes started last week.

"He was always happy, always," Chavez said. "He never had a day he would be mad, never, never. He was always happy, always playing Xbox, always making sure all of us as a family were together."

Lizarde, who works in construction, said he needed to get back to work to support his family.

Doctors told him it could be six months before he walks again.

He said he couldn't stop thinking about the horror of what he experienced -- and the nephew he'll never see again.

"Physically, I'm recovering, but mentally it's stressful," he said. "It hurts."

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