Deputies are searching for the person who shot and killed a deaf teenager on Friday near a Moreno Valley high school.
Family members are calling the 18-year-old's death "a senseless act of murder" and a case of mistaken identity.
Desean Welch, 18, was shot and killed near Rancho Verde High School in Moreno Valley where hundreds were attending a football game on Friday.
Welch's friend Lamar Francis witnessed the shooting and told NBC4 they were confronted by a young man who kept asking if they knew someone in Ontario.
"This boy was talking. I told him that we are deaf," Francis said.
Francis said the man was becoming increasingly aggressive so Welch used a cell phone to write a text so they could communicate and resolve the confusion.
The man then threw up a gang sign with his hands and opened fire on Welch.
News
Top news of the day
"He was not a gang banger … he was not a bad kid," the victim's mother Najai Welch said.
Welch was a student at the California School for the Deaf in Riverside. He wanted to play basketball in the NBA and had a scholarship to attend USC, his mother said.
Family members want the shooter brought to justice.
"You all just took an innocent man," Desean's mother Najai said.
Daytoryi Love, Desean's cousin, created a GoFundMe page to help pay for funeral expenses.
"My family is taking this really hard so if you guys could please just help us donate, anything will help," Love wrote.
Anyone with information regarding the shooting is asked to contact the Riverside County Sheriff's Department.
