Mansfield family mourns 20-year-old father killed in Deep Ellum Halloween shootings
A Mansfield family is grieving the loss of a 20-year-old father and son who was among four people killed in three separate shootings in Deep Ellum on Halloween night.
Isiah Boling, known to his family as Zay, leaves behind a 1-year-old daughter, Tazanna, and a 2-year-old son, Zamier. His family remembers him as a loving father, devoted son and protector who always looked out for the people he loved.
In an emotional interview with CBS News Texas, Boling's mother, Flora Perez, recalled returning to the scene where her son was killed. There, she found the mask that had been placed over his face.
"I knew that was the last thing that touched him. So I gave it a kiss, and I brought it home with me because I got to kiss me goodbye like that," Perez said.
Perez said her son had a bright future ahead of him.
"He was someone with a future. He was a protector and he died doing that," she said.
Boling was celebrating Halloween with his brother and sister at Deep Ellum's "Nightmare on Elm Street" party when, according to his family, the night took a deadly turn.
His family says a group of men grabbed his sister near Elm Street, prompting a verbal altercation involving Boling. The confrontation escalated to gunfire, and Boling was shot twice, in the chest and stomach, according to his family.
Video from the scene shows Boling lying on the ground as his brother and paramedics rushed to help him. He did not survive.
For Perez, the loss is still difficult to comprehend.
"You're not supposed to bury your children. You plan on your children burying you," she said.
Boling's mother and the mother of his children, Thalia Tracey, said he adored his two young children. Tracey said the children still ask for their father and do not yet understand that he is gone.
"The best father to his kids. They loved him. They still ask for him," Tracey said.
She said she is still struggling to process his death.
"Like it can't be real. It still doesn't feel like it," Tracey said.
Boling was one of four people killed in three separate shootings on Halloween night in Deep Ellum. Fifteen others were injured.
Deep Ellum shooting victim speaks from hospital bed
One of those wounded was Emmerson Franklin, who was shot in the hip. Franklin spoke with CBS News Texas from her hospital bed, describing the moment she realized she had been hit.
"And then I'm realizing I'm hit. And I just started screaming for help," Franklin said. "I'm still grateful that I'm still here, able to look at my mom and dad."
As investigators work to find those responsible, Boling's family is asking the community for prayers and urging the person responsible for his death to come forward.
Perez also had a message for her son's killer.
"Whoever did this to my son, I want their parents to be without their son. He needs to be incarcerated because now my son can never come back," Perez said. "They at least get to say happy birthday to their son over the phone call on FaceTime. We'll never get to do that. We'll never get to hold him."
