Loved ones have identified the victim to KHOU 11 News as Christopher Walker II.
HOUSTON — A Houston family is calling for justice after a beloved son was shot and killed near the Galleria area Thursday night.
The Houston Police Department said the shooting happened just after 6 p.m. Thursday on Westheimer Road near Post Oak Boulevard. Police said a man was shot in what appeared to be a robbery. Someone drove him to an emergency clinic on San Felipe Street, but he did not survive.
Loved ones identified the man killed to KHOU 11 News as 30-year-old Christopher Walker II. KHOU 11 News reporter Orko Manna spoke exclusively with his family. His mother, Natalie Lee-Walker, said she is having difficulty coming to terms with this devastating loss.
“We have to live life without him forever, forever,” she said. “It’s a huge vacancy that will never ever be filled by anything, anyone. What is hurtful is the presence, his physical presence, is vacant. That space is vacant. His seat at the table is vacant. His room and the things that he loved doing and the people he enjoyed seeing, they will no longer get to hear that laughter.”
Natalie described her son’s laughter as infectious. She also said she wants him to be remembered for the bright light he was.
“Christopher was a very affectionate, loving, gentle, kind-hearted gem,” Lee-Walker said. “Every room he walked into, every person he met, he always left them better off than the way he found them. He always made everybody feel important. He wanted everybody to feel loved and that they had purpose.”
The family said Christopher just turned 30 years old on Monday, Jan. 13. They said he spent every day of the week celebrating with different friends, including on Thursday night – the night he was shot.
“It’s just tragic that he didn’t get to complete that week of celebrations,” Natalie said.
Natalie added that it is heartbreaking to know that Christopher died because someone wanted to steal from him.
“Just tragic and horrific and unnecessary. I mean, how do you value a person’s life as insignificant, so insignificant that you would take it for a possession that they have? Why would you think that it was okay to devalue someone’s life?” Lee-Walker said. “He meant something. He was valuable, more valuable that the possession that he had that this person wanted and couldn’t have, and there has to be accountability for that.”
Natalie said she wants the shooter and anyone else who witnessed the shooting to come forward.
“Turn yourself in. Have a conscience. Turn yourself in. But if you know something, please say something,” she said.
Christopher’s father, prominent musician and producer Christopher Walker, said he is still trying to process the unexpected death of this son.
“He’s going to be missed, really missed. It’s just, just trying to live life without him is just, I don’t know how we’re going to do it,” he said. “Just going to try and navigate our way through this, and we just wish that no family ever has to go through this.”
The family told KHOU 11 News that Christopher studied aviation management and graduated from Texas Southern University, but due to his entrepreneurial spirit and desire to help others, he decided to work as a physical trainer and nutritionist.
Loved ones also said Christopher was extremely spiritual and would often spread his love of God to all those around him.
“Everywhere he went, he made an impact into other peoples’ lives,” Christopher’s uncle, Ernest Walker, said. “Everyone that came across him really loved his smile, really saw his heart, and to me, that’s how we want him to be remembered.”
The family is holding a celebration of life for Christopher on Friday, Jan. 24 at 6:30 p.m. at The Fountain of Praise on Hillcroft Avenue in Houston.
The Houston Police Department told KHOU 11 News that as of Saturday night, there were no updates to the case. But police said that the deadly shooting remains an active investigation.