‘My son is gone.’ Family members grieve the loss of Elk Grove teen slain on 4th of July

Melody Davis woke up on the morning of July 4 and wanted to make her son quiche, his favorite breakfast.

It was late morning and he was in a rush. She told him it wouldn’t take long.

“Mom, I’ll be back in a few minutes,” he said. “I love you, just put my food to the side.” At around 11 a.m., he left.

He did not return.

A little more than an hour later, Davis received a call informing her he was shot at an apartment complex in south Sacramento and pronounced dead at the scene. Two teenagers were arrested July 9 in connection to the shooting, according to The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office.

His name was Mactavious Garren.

Garren was 19, having celebrated his birthday in March. He was born in Colorado and lived there with Davis until he was 6. They moved to Elk Grove in 2013 and have lived there for the past decade.

He was looking forward to celebrating Independence Day, his favorite holiday.

It was his favorite holiday not because of the fun, but also because his grandfather’s birthday is on July 1 . His best memories were spending time with grandpa celebrating his birthday on the holiday. Last week, about a hundred people gathered for a vigil in an Elk Grove park to remember him; a “celebration of life” will be held Saturday.

His mother said the past week has been “torture.” She can’t sleep without thinking of him.

Her voice cracks talking about him and she is moved to tears.

“When I sleep, all I think about is him and what it looked like when he was (lying there) passing away,” she said. “Or what he was thinking about when it happened, or if he was calling out for me.”

And then she wept.

She’s lost one of her four boys.

“My beautiful son,” Davis said. “When I say beautiful, that’s inside and out. You know, I’m just waiting for him to come to the top of the stairs and be like ‘mom’ and do his weird little dance, and then ask me ‘what do you need? I know you’re going to ask for something.’ You know? And it’s never going to happen.”

‘Somebody’s son’

Vanessa Fulcher is Davis’ sister. She said the grief is still raw.

Fulcher has three daughters who were close to their cousins, Davis’ four sons. Soemtimes Davis and Fulcher were pregnant at the same time.

Growing up, their kids were always together. They were all best friends.

They’re trying to adjust to the loss. She remembered how she recently acted as if he were still alive.

“We’re used to them all being around,” Fulcher said. “I was holding a blanket and the girls were downstairs and his brothers were downstairs and I said ‘Where’s Mac?’”

One of her daughters gave her a blank stare.

“What mom?”

Fulcher repeated, “Where’s Mac?”

Her daughter responded emphatically.

“Mom!”

Fulcher took a moment to absorb her daughter’s response and remember he was gone . She sobbed.

“People don’t understand when they do this, they’re killing somebody’s son, somebody’s best friend, somebody’s cousin,” she said. “You know, somebody’s someone. The pain is deeper than just the parents or the siblings, it’s everyone that they touched.”

Two arrested

Davis arrived at the scene in south Sacramento about 20 minutes after her son was shot and killed.

His body was laid out in the sun with a sheet covering it.

None of her family members were familiar with the apartment complex. Fulcher said they had never seen it before.

Davis and her family did not know what transpired except for the obvious, that her son was dead. They spent nearly five hours there trying to get answers.

Another person was taken to the hospital in critical condition, according to family members. That is Garren’s cousin, who is 18.

The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office told The Bee on Wednesday that two teenagers, 15 and 17, were arrested in connection with the shooting.

Sgt. Amar Gandhi, a spokesman for the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office, said a gun transaction led to the shooting.

“It’s a gun deal that went awry,” Gandhi said. “I won’t get into two specifics. That will come out during court testimony. I’ll confirm that it was a gun deal that went awry and that’s when we believe the 15-year-old shot both victims,” Gandhi said.

The 15-year-old was charged with murder; the 17-year-old was charged with robbery.

Adjusting to the loss

Every day she copes with his death, realizing she never thought that she would be one to have other people pray for her because she lost a child or loved one to gun violence.

“My son is gone,” Davis said. “These heinous crimes that happen to our youth, especially our urban youth, they’re consistent. They’re not sporadic, they’re consistent.”

She said her heart goes out to the mother of her son’s killer.

“They’re going to lose a child and that mom is going to go through pain,” Davis said. “She didn’t pull the trigger and kill my son, her child did, and now her child will be taken. It doesn’t bring me peace that they’re arrested. But justice has to be done because they can’t just get away with it.”

The only peace Davis has now, she said, is that she has family with her through these troubled times.

“It hurts my heart, but that mom is going to have to hurt,” Davis said. “It’s a vicious cycle. There’s nobody that wins in this.”

Remembering Mactavious

Davis described her son as a fun and energetic person.

He was always respectful, she said. Davis said he always told everyone he loved them whenever he left them.

His aunt described him always having an extra pep to his step, almost as if he was skipping, but too cool to skip.

“Remembering the joy of him,” Fulcher said. “He was just always in a good mood and a very chipper person. His memory is what brings me peace, my memories I have (of him).”

He loved to dance. He loved to make people laugh. He would entertain people, if not when you were with him then definitely on his TikTok social media page.

“Thank you for 5k! I love all of y’all!,” read the bio on Garren’s TikTok.

He liked to stay active hanging out with friends outside, going for walks, and he even started learning to ride a moped.

He wanted to pursue music before he died. He aspired to be a rapper. So much so that he would ask friends, and sometimes random people, to freestyle with him.

A GoFundMe account was created with a goal to raise $12,000 to pay for funeral services. It has raised more than $8,000.

Garren’s celebration of life will be from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday, July 15 at 1442 Del Paso Blvd.

He leaves behind his family members, friends and his dog Precious.

This story was originally published July 14, 2023 at 5:00 AM.