Sister, father mourn boy, 16, fatally shot in Phoenix

When Jaiden Torrez’s older sister Jazmine Torrez would fly home, they’d make it a point to go to the store and buy clothing that would match.

The 16-year-old boy looked up to his active duty Air Force sibling. They listened to the same music, went to the same places and shared the same interests. He planned to take over his father’s business as a barber and already had a group of clients that saw him exclusively.

On Sunday, his sister flew in to see Jaiden for the final time.

Jaiden was fatally shot just after 11:50 p.m. Friday near the intersection of 19th Avenue and Colter Street, according to police spokeswoman Sgt. Ann Justus. Phoenix Fire Department personnel pronounced Torrez dead at the scene.

Police have not commented on a possible motive, but his sister suspects it was a random act of violence.

“I feel like the reason it happened to him was because they could,” said Jazmine. “I feel like the people who did it did it because they just could. They had a gun. And they kind of just said, why not?”

Phoenix has seen an increase in homicides that made 2020 deadlier than the previous two years, in line with national trends, according to a city of Phoenix press release. The analysis shows a 52% increase from 2019 to 2020.

After Gregory Gutierrez received a call from his daughter learning about what happened, he held a prayer for his son at his barbershop with close friends and family the same day.

“You could never just plan for anything like this to happen, and when it does, it’s just absolutely unbelievable,” said Jaiden’s father, Gutierrez.

“The worst came to such a nice young man, who’s very respectful and carried himself in a good light, always smiling. I’ve never known him to be enemies with anybody … I don’t see why anybody would want to do anything like this to him.”