Three juveniles are in custody after a 16-year-old boy was shot and killed in Nassau County Monday evening.
First Coast News has confirmed through family that the victim of this shooting was 16-year-old Trenton Fort who was a student at West Nassau High School.
The number 21 is circulating social media and the high school Tuesday. Twenty-one is the number Trenton Fort wore on his football jersey.
“He was tremendous at football,” said his father, Thareus Fort. “He was an athlete amongst athletes.”
“He would play so hard,” Trenton Fort’s mother Paige Hall chimed in.
Deputies say Trenton Fort was in the car with four other kids when he got in a confrontation with the suspected shooter.
Deputies say the 17-year-old suspect has previous gun charges and will be facing charges of violation of probation, possession of a firearm and could eventually face charges of second-degree murder.
“He would always stand up for what he believed in and his friends,” Hall said.
Trenton Fort’s parents say they heard he was defending a friend during the confrontation, and they don’t want this shooting to taint his reputation.
“My son wasn’t a drug dealer or a dope boy or any of that stuff,” Thareus Fort said. “I know a lot of parents say that when they lose a child—but my son wasn’t that.”
Deputies say the driver of that car drove Trenton Fort to West Nassau High School to meet deputies and get Trenton Fort help. That’s where Trenton Fort’s friend Malik Green was working out, heard the news and ran outside.
“They busted in the weight room and told us,” Green said. “I thought they was freaking us. That’s when I went outside to the parking lot. Everyone was crying and there was police.”
Deputies say Trenton Fort had a single gunshot wound to his chest. He was transported to UF Health Shands Hospital in Jacksonville where he died later that night.
Trenton Fort’s parents say after his passing, they received a call that surprised them, but makes them admire their son even more—they learned he was an organ donor.
“They called me and said Trenton would have the opportunity to save about 100 peoples’ lives with his organs,” Hall said.
“I just want to grab him and hold him and tell him I love him,” Thareus Fort said.
The investigation is still ongoing and the sheriff’s office said it expects to be filing more charges in the future.