Mesquite police are investigating the death of a 16-year-old boy who was fatally shot Saturday evening before he was seen falling out of a car onto the roadway.
At about 7:05 p.m. Saturday, officers with the Mesquite Police Department were notified of what they initially thought was a car accident along the 2800 block of Clay Mathis Road. According to Capt. Stephen Biggs with the Mesquite Police Department, a witness reported seeing someone fall out of a car at that location.
When they arrived, they found a 16-year-old boy laying on the ground.
“That’s still something we’re trying to figure out. We don’t know if he fell out of the vehicle or was pushed out. We don’t want to speculate at this time,” Capt. Biggs said Sunday.
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Investigators said the teenager, identified by family members as 16-year-old Key’Mydre Palmer, had a puncture wound to the chest that was later determined by doctors to be a gunshot wound.
Palmer was transported to a local hospital where he died.
Shenika Palmer, the victim's mother, said her son just returned home from work not too long before the incident. Key’Mydre was the oldest of five children and a sophomore at Horn High School, she said. He took a shower and stepped out of the house at about 6 p.m. Saturday for what she thought would only be a few minutes.
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“My kids said, ‘Mama, Mydre’s friend is outside again,’ meaning, he’s a regular. That it’s someone Mydre knows, for him to come outside barefooted,” Palmer said. “He does what any other 16-year-old would do. Play his games. He’s not out running the streets.”
Palmer described her son as a hardworking student who loved to play football. He had dreams of playing professionally one day, she said.
"I don’t know why they took my baby," she said. "He took away my baby. He took away a big brother. He took away a cousin, nephew, grandson."
Tonya Palmer, Key’Mydre’s grandmother, said the family is urging the public to come forward with answers.
“Just turn yourself in. That’s what we want. Turn yourself in. If you know something, come forward please,” she said.
Biggs confirmed Sunday no arrests have been made and no suspects have been publicly identified.
