15-year-old killed in Fayetteville shooting 'would always try to make people smile'

Xaevion Thornton. a student at Westover High School, died when he was shot in the chest on Monday night.

Posted 3:58 a.m. Nov 30, 2021 — Updated 10:48 p.m. Nov 30, 2021

Gilbert Baez

, WRAL Fayetteville reporter

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — Fayetteville police said a 15-year-old boy died after being shot in the chest on Monday.

Xaevion Thornton, a student at Westover High School, was killed in the parking lot of the Glen Reilly Village Center on Glenn Reilly Road.

Thornton's mother, Angela Canada, said she'll remember her son for his joyful personality and sense of humor.

"He was one of the most cheerful people I knew," Canada said. "He would always try to make people smile. He was the jokester of the family. He would always crack jokes or do something silly to make us laugh."

Ta'Liah Thornton recalled her brother as her best friend. "We were real close and stuff. We did everything together, just two peas in a pod," she said.

A small collection of flowers and a teddy bear sit at the site where a 15-year-old was shot and killed at a shopping center in Fayetteville.

Canada said her son had walked with friends to the store.

Police said the shooting did not appear to be random.

Police said another person, whose name they did not release, arrived at Cape Fear Valley Hospital with gunshot wounds within hours of Thornton's shooting claiming to have been shot in the same parking lot. They are looking into whether the shooting victims knew each other.

Anyone with information on the shooting is asked to call Detective J. Arnold at 910-824-9539 or Crime Stoppers at 910-483-8477.

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