DETROIT (WXYZ) — A fist fight that led to gunfire on Detroit’s east side this week claimed the life of a young man.
“Ima miss him. Ima miss him,” his father Cornelius Brown exclusively told Channel 7.
Twenty-year-old Tavonte Mathis-Jones was shot and killed on Monday in what police say was a quadruple shooting.
Jones was only there his dad said to calm things down and at some point, things went left.
“He died trying to break someone up from fighting,” Brown said. “He ain’t die no other way.”
Police said the altercation before the shooting involved a group of people. Three other people were shot, with two of them in critical condition and one listed as stable, according to police.
Watch our initial story about the quadruple shooting in the video below:
Jones' family says they have no idea what the argument was about, but witnesses told them he was only trying to help.
“They took a good kid,” Brown said. “He wasn’t a kid with a record. He wasn’t out here doing this and doing that. He worked. He was a nurse. He played football. That was my big baby.”
Jones' older sister Alexis Anderson says she always warned her brother to be careful.
“My brother was a big giant,” Anderson said. “And I would always tell him that he had to be careful because people would just see him in his size and they would not think they would have a fair fight.”
“So he needed to be mindful of his actions, mindful of his demeanor, his words. When you see him, he would interact with you. He’d say 'yes, ma'am. No, ma'am.' He treated people with dignity and respect and he had the utmost respect for his elders."
Jones' mother walked in while I sat with the family. She had just gotten off her flight from Texas, where she lives. And her only word were: “What happened to my baby? What happened to my baby? Tae…."
Now Jones' family, who affectionately called him Tae, are left reeling in pain trying to figure out where to go from here.
And his 6-month-old daughter will now grow up without a father.
“It’s tough because we lost a good guy,” his sister said. “We lost a good guy.”
His father just wishes he could’ve saved him.
“I just wish I could’ve been there. 'Cuz I would’ve took that one for my baby,” Brown said.
Currently, police say no arrests have been made.
The family has set up a GoFundMe page to raise money to bury their loved one.
