He had a whole life ahead of him, but over the weekend 21-year-old Jayden Goodridge became the city's latest victim of gun violence.
His mother Jennifer Gay sat in shock.
"Jayden's like the light. Everyone can have a bad mood. Once Jayden gets there, the mood changes he puts a smile on everyone's face," Gay said. "He's just a happy, happy kid. Everyone who meets Jayden will tell you the same thing, he's just a great kid, he didn't deserve to die like that."
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Police in the 40th Detective Squad are still trying to understand if Goodridge or one of his friends was targeted, or perhaps if they were the victim of mistaken identity.
Officers said the graduate of Archbishop Stepinac High School in White Plains had been walking with some friends at 149th and Jackson Avenue in the Mott Haven section of the Bronx, when someone on an e-bike shot in their direction.
"Jayden would tell us to keep our head up so that's exactly what I'm attempting to do," Goodridge's cousin Madison Atkinson said.
Goodridge was hit in the abdomen. He died the next day.
"He comes from somewhere you know what I mean? He's just like anybody else, he really comes from somewhere and his life was taken -- ask me for what reason? I couldn't tell you," Atkinson said.
ALSO READ | Mother seeking answers when son found dead after night out in NYC
Mother seeking answers after son found dead after night out in NYC
"One of the friends he called 911 and he told me that Jayden was just worrying about him," Gay said. "He said 'are you ok are you ok,' and the friend told me he was saying 'you're the one who got hit, how you asking me if I'm ok?' And you know that's Jayden, he always worrying about everyone else, and he was worried about his friend when he's the one who got hit."
Goodridge had been walking with two friends, one of whom was grazed by a bullet, but not seriously hurt.
Police said they can find no reason why any of the three friends would have been targeted, and so, the investigation continues as Goodridge's family waits for answers.
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