What we know about 3 people killed at Fort Worth July 3 party | Fort Worth Star-Telegram

The three people who were killed in the Lake Como neighborhood following an Independence Day celebration on Monday night have been identified by authorities and their families.

Eight other victims were injured when multiple unidentified shooters opened fire into a crowd, according to police. Hundreds of people were at an unofficial gathering in the west Fort Worth community after ComoFest, a celebration that ends around 10 p.m. on July 3 each year.

The three victims who died have been identified as Cynthia Santos, 22, Gabriella Navarrete, 18, and Paul Willis, 18, according to the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office and family members.

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Shots were fired around 11:45 p.m. Monday at the intersection of Horne Street and Diaz Avenue, near the Como Food Mart.

Cynthia Santos

Cynthia Santos was at the celebration with a friend, having had the day off from work.

Cynthia and her sister Cristina Santos worked together at Pak-A-Pocket, a Greek and Mediterranean restaurant, Cristina told the Star-Telegram. Cynthia wanted to work, save her money, finish paying off her car, get her own place to live, and go to Mexico — where her family is from — her sister said.

The family came to Texas from Zacatecas, Mexico, when Cynthia was 2 years old.

“What I’m going to remember the most is her laugh,” Cristina said.

She described Cynthia as a “mama’s girl,” who always wanted to be home with her family. She also enjoyed reading and painting in her time outside of work.

“She really liked to help out,” said Cristina. “She was always taking my mom to the hospital, always taking her out to go eat... She would drop whatever plans it was for my mom, whatever it was.”

Their mother, Cecilia Santos, told KUVN-DT that Cynthia didn’t go out very often and described her as happy and content. Cecilia didn’t feel well Monday night, so she didn’t want her daughter to leave the house.

“I told her not to go,” her mother told the Univision TV station in Spanish.

Cynthia went to the gathering in Como with her best friend. She was shot in the neck and died at Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital.

“I don’t know what happened that night... she was never involved in any of that,” Cristina said about the night of the shooting. “She just wanted to celebrate.”

Cristina is asking the community to help raise funds for her sister’s funeral through a GoFundMe account.

Cristina wrote in the description of the fundraiser that she wants to give her parents some peace of mind by relieving the stress of unexpected funeral costs.

Paul Willis

Ka’Desha Weatherly said her son, Paul Willis, recently graduated from high school. He got a job as a manager at a McDonald’s and an apprenticeship to study toward becoming an electrician and was able to move into his own apartment.

“It’s so heartbreaking to see his coworkers because he was the manager,” Weatherly said. “They’re heartbroken.”

While he was growing up in Como, his mother said, many of the children admired Willis, as he would feed them, drive them places and made sure their needs were met.

Willis, his mother, and his siblings lived in several cities in Texas and in Chicago before settling in Como. “We made a home for ourselves... I felt like we were in the right place,” she said.

Willis was at the celebration with his mother and other family members, Weatherly said, but was with friends when the shots were fired.

“They’re teenagers, they want to go with their friends,” Weatherly said. “They don’t want to see girls around me.”

About 11:45 p.m. Monday, more than two dozen gunshots were fired at the intersection of Horne Street and Diaz Avenue. Weatherly roamed through the streets to look for her son as the crowd dispersed.

“I walked past my baby dead,” Weatherly said. “I didn’t even see it was him.”

She waited for three hours in a police line until they told her Willis had died.

In a memorial at the shooting scene, Weatherly placed a box of pink roses with a sign reading, “His name was Paul Timothy Willis.”

“He was a great, outstanding young man,” Weatherly said. “How do I tell my youngest son to do the right thing, when you do everything perfect and you get killed at 18?”

Weatherly said that the love her son received is what is helping her cope.

“He was the golden child,” she said. “They took a major part of my life.”

Gabriella Navarrete

Gabriella Navarrete, 18, was identified Wednesday by the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office as one of the three victims killed in the shooting. She was shot in the back and died at Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital.

Navarrete’s mother, Rosa Carrasco, told KXAS-TV that her daughter went out Monday night to spend time with friends. Gabriella worked in Hudson Oaks and was attending classes at L Makeup in Southlake, she said.

“Every day she was making that drive from Weatherford to Southlake because makeup was life,” Carrasco told the NBC station. “She wanted to make the world a more beautiful place. She was just full of life.”

Carrasco told KXAS that her daughter was in the wrong place at the wrong time. “Gun violence is out of control, and it’s not fair to those who have nothing to do with it,” the mother said.

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This story was originally published July 05, 2023 3:18 PM.