Teen’s dream was to join the Army
Cesar Cortes always wanted to be a soldier.
The 19-year-old Bellaire High School senior and Arto my recruit — killed Tuesday in what officials described as an accidental shooting on campus — was a respected member of the school's JROTC 20th Battalion, whose mournful ranks filled Evelyn Park on Wednesday
honor him.
According to authorities and witnesses, he was fatally shot while another JROTC member showed him a gun.
Jordan Koy said Cortes was the friend who always pushed him to work harder. The two were ticking down to June 29 when they would ship off together to basic training at Fort Benning in Georgia, he said.
“It's just shocking to see that taken away from him,” the 18-year-old said. “He had a great career ahead of him.”
The shooting was not believed to be intentional, according to authorities. The suspected 16-year-old shooter — whose identity was not made public because he is a minor — was apprehended Tuesday night and has since been charged with manslaughter, rather than murder, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said at a news conference.
Though accidental, the shooting added a sense of insecurity on campus and comes after a threat of violence communicated to students in September and the discovery of a gun on campus in October.
Some students now want tougher security measures, including the use of metal detectors.
Cortes and his classmate were not involved in a dispute, Ogg continued. The two were in the same battalion and friends, she said.
“He did not, based on the evidence, intend to kill his friend — but he did. That's reckless,” Ogg said. “This young person is going to have to live with that for the rest of their life.”
During the Evelyn Park gathering, Koy recalled the moments leading up to the shooting in the JROTC facility and how he saw his classmate with the weapon. The teen was showing Koy and Cortes the gun. Koy entered a changing room and heard a gunshot.
Cortes then cried out that he had been shot, Koy said.
He waited in the changing room until the alleged shooter bolted. By then, Cortes was on the ground and the color was fading from his face.
“I didn't want that to be my last moment with him but it was,” Koy said.
It was still routine outside the school where 16-year-old Alex Osorio was waiting for Cortes to take him home.
He kept calling the teen but he never picked up. And then news of the shooting hit.
Osorio called Cortes' parents and quickly bumped into his father as law enforcement swarmed the school.
The two rode to Ben Taub Hospital together, Osorio said.
Bellaire investigators expressed concern Wednesday evening that the weapon used in the shooting had not been found.
It was not yet known how the teen obtained the gun, which Bellaire Police Lt. Greg Bartlett described as a .32-caliber semi-automatic pistol. It was not part of the JROTC program, officials said.