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The family of DeAndre Matthews, a 19-year-old Black teenager, is seeking answers after he was found dead with gunshot wounds on railroad tracks in Brooklyn, New York.
According to Newsone, Matthews was initially reported missing on February 7 in Brooklyn, New York.
The day before his death, Matthew asked to borrow a vehicle from his mother, who said the interaction was the last time she saw her son alive.
“I’m hurt. I’m angry. I’m lost. That was my first child,” Danielle Matthews said. “He was my first true love. He taught me how to be a mother. So, to them killers, they have no idea what they did.”
The mother said she attempted to find her son by using her vehicle's tracking function. Once she located the vehicle, Danielle Matthews called the police but found her son wasn't inside the car.
“When the police opened the door, smoke was coming out of my back seat,” Danielle Matthews told ABC News. “I knew my son was gone from that moment.”
Her son's body was found a few hours later on railroad tracks in Brooklyn.
Police said he suffered significant burns throughout his body, a gunshot wound to the head, and showed signs of smoke inhalation. DeAndre Matthew's cause of death was ruled a gunshot wound to the head with perforation of the skull and brain and the manner a homicide, per the NYC Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
DeAndre's mother believes he may have been the victim of hate crime because he was gay and that he could've met his killer online.
“DeAndre is so gullible. My baby trusted everybody and I hate that about him,” the mother said. “DeAndre thought nobody would harm him.”
No arrests have been made by police as of Tuesday (February 21).
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