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Waterbury Police make another arrest in Friday shooting as loved ones remember life lost

6 juveniles have been arrested in connection with the deadly shooting of 17-year-old Taevon Moshier.

WATERBURY, Conn — Waterbury Police have made another arrest in the robbery and shooting that took a young man's life early Friday morning.

 A 16-year-old male is facing seven charges that include robbery and assault. Six juveniles in total have been arrested for the incident that left 17-year-old Taevon Moshier dead.

Moshier was a senior at John F. Kennedy High School. He played basketball and football and had a clean record at school. When those closest to him heard the news of his death in a botched robbery attempt, they thought something wasn’t adding up.  

"Absolutely not. That was not a student-athlete or just a kid that we knew," said Jennifer Ortiz, the Director of School Counseling of Region 14.

The Moshier Ortiz knew was in her office every day at Kennedy High. She even kept his favorite snack, Cheez-Its on hand anytime he came by.  

"After school, he would leave his stuff in my office because he didn’t like his locker," said Ortiz. 

Moshier was described as a hard worker, coachable, and a great teammate. If it wasn’t for COVID-19, Ortiz believes Moshier would have been in a different place on that fateful night.  

"These kids haven’t been in school for 10 months so there’s nothing in the community for them to do and I believe that he would’ve been at basketball practice or he definitely wouldn’t have been out at 12:30 at night," said Ortiz. 

Instead, police say Moshier was on Esther Street early Friday morning with a group of kids who were waiting to rob another teen. A fight broke out and shots were fired. One striking Moshier in the chest.  

"We did hear yelling at first and then I thought I heard a scream with the first two gunshots and then right after was where the four or five of them had happened," said Samantha Tata. 

Moshier would pass away at Waterbury Hospital. His family and mother are still trying to comprehend how their son ended up in such a situation.  

"She just said she’s numb," said Ortiz. "I can’t even imagine having to bury my children or one of my kids especially something like this so sad and so tragic."

Six juveniles all aged 17 and 16-years-old were arrested on a slew of charges. One has been charged with murder. Ortiz says incidents like this are becoming a problem in the community and they need to find a way to fix it.  

"Good kids make bad choices all the time. I just don’t think that they would end like this," said Ortiz. 

The juveniles have yet to appear in court. There is a chance their charges get moved to adult court.  

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