NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — A Newport News man and military veteran who was living in Houston while he attended college was shot and killed last week. Now, his family is trying to come up with the funds they need to bring his body home for burial.
22-year-old Javon Frazier spent three years in the U.S. Army before he was honorably discharged. The veteran was reportedly walking home from a gymnasium at around 11 p.m. in the Midtown area of Houston when he was shot and killed.
"He was at the wrong place, at the wrong time," Frazier's mother, Claudette Malone said as she sat on her front porch, hands clasped together. "I just want to clear his name. Let people know he was not in a gang. He didn't get into trouble. He was a disabled vet."
According to the Houston Police Department, investigators are still searching for the shooter who they describe as a "man last seen in a black hoodie and shorts."
Another man was also shot but is expected to survive.
Malone said her son was the only family member living in Houston. She said Frazier was going to the gym several times a week, focusing on eating healthy, and even joined a church where he was meeting new people.
Frazier was also attending Houston Community College. Malone said he had hoped to get into Rice University to get his business degree, also located in Houston, but he didn't get accepted into the program.
So, Malone said Frazier he planned to move back to Newport News later this month to attend a school closer to home. Now, that warm welcome home for Frazier turned into a tragic goodbye Malone has yet to even say to her son in person.
"You have no idea... you have no idea the pain. Not only did my son get killed, it's the whole location and the process and then wanting to know why," Malone said. "I'm trying to hold it together. I have my moments. I think it's going to hurt more when his body gets here and I physically see him."
When 13News Now spoke to Malone on Tuesday afternoon, she was still on and off the phone with the funeral homes and detectives, trying to organize everything. She said she's trying to be patient, but she needs answers from the funeral homes, so she can get her son back home sooner.
As an Army veteran, Malone said the military will pay for Frazier's burial at the Albert G. Horton Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Suffolk, but will not pay for the transportation of Frazier's body and other funeral expenses.
"The strain is that I have to pay two funeral homes," Malone explained. "And what else is frustrating is the slow process of the funeral homes and transporting his body here."
Frazier's family has set up a GoFundMe page to help get his body back home for a proper funeral and burial.
Houston ABC affiliate KTRK contributed to this report.