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Fairfax County police have charged a juvenile in the fatal shooting of 16-year-old Herndon High School student Evin Alberto Herrera Campos, whose father says the teenager had received death threats for weeks before he was killed.

Detectives obtained felony petitions Oct. 25 charging the male suspect with second-degree murder, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony and shooting from a vehicle. The suspect was being held at the Fairfax County Juvenile Detention Center.

Evin was found with a fatal gunshot wound Oct. 15 near Hutchison Park, a Fairfax County Park Authority soccer field outside the town limits of Herndon. Police said the attack did not initially appear to be random.

Father says warnings went unanswered

Evin’s father, who requested anonymity because he fears for his family’s safety, said his son had faced repeated online and in-person death threats. Some warned that Evin would be killed away from school grounds and would not live to receive his green card.

The father said Evin first showed him threatening messages on his cellphone in mid-September. He said he then contacted a liaison between the family and Herndon High School twice—once in mid-September and again about two weeks later.

According to the father, the liaison said the school resource officer was unavailable, was responsible for an estimated 2,500 students and would contact him when possible. The father said neither the officer nor other school employees followed up.

Fairfax County Public Schools said Oct. 22 that Herndon High School continued to provide crisis-team support to students and staff. The school system directed questions about the investigation to police.

Police said they could not provide more information while the investigation remained active. The department added that its school resource officers continued working with students, families and school employees to protect the community.

School resource officers in Fairfax County schools are specially trained Fairfax County police officers assigned primarily to middle and high schools. They remain under police department control and generally are not supposed to enforce school rules that do not involve violations of law. Their responsibilities include working with administrators on conflict resolution and considering alternatives to arrest when appropriate.

A trip to the soccer field ends in tragedy

Evin lived with his father, stepmother and three siblings. On the evening of Oct. 15, he told his father he planned to visit the soccer field with two friends and left home at about 5:30 p.m.

His father urged him to return early because he worried when the teenager was outside after dark. At 8:39 p.m., the family received a text from Evin’s phone saying he was coming home.

Soon afterward, a family friend who had driven past the field called Evin’s stepmother and reported police activity there. Evin’s father searched the route between their home and the field, including a nearby 7-Eleven and Taco Bell, but could not find him.

Officers had been called at 9:31 p.m. to the 13000 block of Parcher Avenue, where they found an unresponsive male suffering from a gunshot wound to his lower body. Evin was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police arrived at the family’s home around 10:30 p.m. and asked the father to accompany them to the station, he said. He described waiting there without knowing what had happened to his son and without an interpreter. At about 3 a.m., he said, police told him Evin had died.

The father said information shared with him by investigators indicated that his son was targeted in a drive-by shooting involving multiple people.

Family mourns while preparing to move

Evin’s father described him as an advanced student with good grades who entered high school as a sophomore. He was also a devoted soccer player who hoped to compete professionally after graduation.

The teenager was working with an attorney as he pursued U.S. residency. His father said Evin eventually wanted to return to Honduras and help his community there.

The family’s youngest children, who are between 2 and 10 years old, continued calling Evin’s name when the door opened, his father said. The oldest of the three children understood that he had died.

The family was also preparing to leave its rented townhome after the landlord cited neighbors’ discomfort, according to the father. He said the five remaining family members were sleeping together on floor mats in one room because they did not feel safe.

Local funeral plans remained pending as efforts continued to return Evin’s body to Honduras for burial near his mother. New Virginia Majority established a fundraiser limited to the cost of his final arrangements.