Austin hookah bar shooting: Victim’s family remembers 17-year-old football star

Austin, Texas – A 19-year-old teenager has been arrested for capital murder in connection with a hookah bar shooting in northwest Austin that left two people dead.

Saturday night at the Moon Palace hookah lounge in northwest Austin was deadly.

“I still don’t believe. I think I’m going to feel this way for a long time,” Braden Boyard’s mother Jessica Bolyard said.

Boyard’s family said he went into the living room to wish a friend a happy birthday and then left.

“He just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Bolyard’s father said.

In the end, Bolyard left and went to the hospital. He was shot.

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“I answered the phone and heard only horror and tears in the voices of some of my friends,” said Bolyard teammate Andrew Kenbel.

Austin Police Department investigators said 19-year-old Christian Deshawn Stevens shot and killed Briden Boyard and Jaytron Tatum and injured four others.

“There was one shooter who shot at the hookah bar,” Austin Police Department Homicide Detective Manuel Hernandez said.

Austin police said Stevens was on the run. It took some time, but the Lone Star Fugitive Task Force found him in Killeen. With the help of Killeen Police, they took him into custody last Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the family and friends of 17-year-old Bolyard are still in shock.

“You always think it’s someone else, someone else’s family. It strikes you in our community. It just devastated a part of us, and I don’t know if it will ever heal,” Bolyard’s aunt Angela Verchan said.

Bolyard attended Jarrell High School and was a star on the football field.

“He loved football, loved, loved it. He lived for this,” Bolyard said.

“He was just an electric player and you knew when Bryden was on the field you could feel his presence and he played with all his heart,” Kenbel said.

He was said to have a heart of gold.

“He was just passionate and treated everyone the same,” said Bolliard’s friend Alexis Trope.

His friends and family described him as energetic and cheerful.

“He really loved listening to music, so I think I enjoy coping with it, listening to some of his favorite songs and things like that, and that helps a lot,” Boliard’s friend Paige Phalen said.

“I think it’s killing me, some of our favorite moments are the music, you know, listening to back roads driving, listening to music, singing, being stupid,” added Bolyard.

They said they would never forget him.

Stevens is being held at the Bell County Jail on $4.5 million bail. He will eventually be transported back to Travis County. APD is not looking for other suspects in this case.

Stevens had already been arrested at least once in Brenham last February. He was charged with illegal possession of weapons and possession of marijuana.