DeSean, 18, had been watching a high school football game with friends who are also deaf just outside Riverside in California when an unidentified gunman approached them and started asking questions, his family said.
'We are deaf. We can’t hear you,' wrote one of DeSean's friends on his cell phone, showing it to the gunman in explanation. We don’t understand what you are saying to us,' the teens added.
DeSean's sister Najai Welch, who was with the group at Rancho Verde High School, just
outside of Riverside, said the alleged shooter typed out a message back.
DeSean who played varsity basketball and had aspired to play professionally left the game shortly after with his friends . They later told police they were followed out.
A few minutes later, police received reports of shots fired in a nearby intersection.
DeSean was shot and taken to a nearby hospital. He later succumbed to his injuries. Najai Welch thinks the shooter may have confused her brother with someone else.
'My brother didn’t deserve that he was a good kid.'
DeSean played varsity basketball at California School for the Deaf Riverside and was hoping to play professionally, his family said.