The mostly blue and red balloons were set free at the corner of Conners and Banker streets, near where Javier Harrison was shot along with his friend Devin Henderson near the garage of a home in the 800 block of Conners Street.
RELATED: Teen shot, killed by property owner; father speaks out
Dayton police said a homeowner told them he found the teens inside a car in his garage and shot and killed them.
Harrison’s loved ones say the teens maybe shouldn’t have been in the man’s garage, but say they meant no harm by it.
“Like every other kid in this neighborhood, they wanted to have fun, they wanted to be kids,” Jimmy Harrison said of his brother. “It didn’t deserve him to die, it didn’t.”
They released balloons Wednesday night, less than 24 hours after a homeowner came out after hearing something and seeing lights in his garage. He came out with a gun and found Harrison, Henderson and their friend in a car.
“The resident fired shots from a .38 caliber revolver, which caused the deaths of two of the three individuals,” Dayton Police Chief Richard Biehl said.
No charges have been filed against the homeowner. But questions center over whether this was legal self-defense.
Legal experts said Thursday that outside the immediate house: “You can’t use deadly force just to protect property,” Tom Hagel, University of Dayton Law Professor Emeritus said.
Dayton’s chief said that’s what detectives and prosecutors will be working to figure out.
“There’s a lot that goes into this decision-making process of whether this was a lawful act or a criminal act in shooting those individuals found in the garage,” Biehl said.
In the meantime, Henderson’s brother said life will never be the same.
“I ain’t going to move on from this. That was my brother. My right hand brother.”
Police are not releasing the name of the man who shot and killed the teens because he is not facing charges at this time.
The chief said he’s currently staying with relatives.
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