18-Year-Old Killed In Crystal Shooting Was Set To Start College

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A teenager is in custody for the deadly shooting at a Super America in Crystal this weekend.

The community is mourning the death of 18-year-old Hae'veon Wesley.

"Hae'Veon was a great kid," said Jamil Jackson.

Coach Jamil Jackson says Hae'Veon Wesley was a young man on a mission.

"I saw Hae'Veon every Sunday as I would go to the laundromat on Broadway to wash my uniforms. He would help me unload my truck, he would help me load it back up," said Jackson.

Jackson says he met Wesley when he was looking for an outlet through sports.

"Wesley has been at Farview Park since he was a little rascal, nappy head little kid running around," Jackson said.

Farview is where Wesley learned the game of football and became part of Jackson's life skills mentoring program called CEO or Change Equals Opportunity.

"From Farview he went to Minneapolis Henry and made a name for himself," Jackson said.

Wesley excelled at Patrick Henry.

The running back was good enough to win a scholarship at the University of Minnesota-Crookston.

"He would have left for school today," Jackson said.

But instead of celebrating this milestone, Wesley's family is planning a funeral.

The 18-year-old was shot in the chest and killed outside a gas station just south of Bass Lake Road on Broadway Avenue in Crystal late Saturday night.

"It leads to the conversation of youth violence and where it stems from and where we are going with it. The onus doesn't truly belong on the youth. The youth are stuck in the jungle, if you will and they are all looking for a way out. It's up for us adults to help provide those opportunities for exposure and to get them off the streets, show them different things and different ways they can be," Jackson said.

Jackson hopes this tragedy leads others to think about their situation, and know there is another way.

"What I would say to them is, what do you want to do so that I can help you get there," Jackson said.

Crystal police say they have a teenage boy in custody in connection with Wesley's death.

They did not reveal a possible motive for the shooting.