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ANTIOCH, Calif. – Antioch police are investigating a drive-by shooting that claimed the life of an 18-year-old.
Investigators said the victim was Pittsburg High School student Henry Granado Jr., seen with a great big smile while posing for his senior photo.
“How could this happen?” Odera Okaka asked. “He was about to graduate. So close.”
More than 30 evidence markers lined the street for a block on Fourteenth Street, between Kengel and Macauly streets, where police said at around 6 o’clock Monday night, shots rang out.
Investigators could not confirm if anyone else was injured.
Okaka played on the high school football team with Granado and remembers him fondly.
“He just put a smile on people’s faces every day,” Okaka said. “It was always a good experience being around him, and he was just a great friend overall.”
The location where Granado was shot is on the same block where 17-year-old Anthony Westbrook was shot and killed right next to his twin brother in September 2022.
Neighbors are fed up with the violence.
“You just never know when this is going to happen or who it’s going to hit,” Rebekah Jackson said.
Justin LaVasse lives around the corner on D Street, or as the neighbors call it, ‘death row.’
He was gardening in the backyard when he heard the gunshots, grabbed the kids, and told them to get down on the ground.
“The first few times we heard gunshots, make sure everyone’s away from the windows,” LaVasse said. “You can’t block a bullet. A wall doesn’t even stop a bullet.”
He grew up in the house he lives in, but feels the neighborhood is no longer safe.
LaVasse is now considering moving to escape the crime and won’t even allow his kids to play in the front yard.
“Could’ve been them,” LaVasse said. “Could be my family that’s lost their son, and is mourning now, and their kid’s not going to, to walk the stage with all his peers.”
KTVU is in contact with Granado’s family, but they declined a request for an interview.
They say he was set to graduate this Thursday.
Antioch Police have not released any information on a possible suspect or a motive in the shooting.Â
They are hoping someone will step forward with information that could lead to an arrest.
This is the sixth homicide in Antioch this year.