High school senior shot to death on Bronx street hoped to move out of NYC

A high school senior hoping his flair for fashion design would be his ticket out of the Bronx was shot to death just two blocks away from his family’s home, cops said Sunday.
Xavier Navarez, 17, was shot multiple times in the back on Oak Terrace near Beekman Ave. in Mott Haven about 7:45 p.m. on Saturday, cops said.  Medics rushed him to Lincoln Hospital, but he couldn’t be saved.
“I don’t know how to feel. I’m in shock. I was at work and had to rush to the hospital,” Xavier’s older brother Jose, 22, said Sunday. “I had hundreds of people send condolences. People I grew up with, people he’s friends with. I haven’t slept yet. I’ve just kept looking at his photos.”
On Sunday morning, cops arrested 33-year-old James Walker, who lives on the block where Xavier was slain, for murder and weapon possession. No motive was immediately released by police.
Xavier was a senior at Bronx Engineering & Technology Academy and had recently posed for a senior portrait in a graduation gown, giving the camera a smile and a thumbs up, his family said.
He had a passion for clothing design, according to friends and family. The teen called his fledgling brand, “Die Rich.”
“He always made sweat suits and sold it to people,” Jose said, describing his sibling as artistic, entrepreneurial and ambitious. “He had a lot of people buying his clothing.”
Xavier was working on a website for his brand but didn’t get to finish it.
“One thing that he wanted was to get out [of] the Bronx. That’s why he had a different idea about how to make money with the clothing brand,” Jose said. “He was always thinking of ways to expand the clothing brand.”
Xavier never expressed fear of the violence around his neighborhood, his sibling recounted. He had no criminal record, cops say.
“He’s supergoofy. He was all about school and was always looking for work. Always trying to stay out of harm’s way,” Jose said. “He was always just excited to go outside. Ready to go to school and come back home.”
Jose broke down in tears at the thought his brother will never get to graduate.
At home, Xavier would help care for his deaf mother, using sign language to communicate with her, Jose said. The killing left her shattered and she is staying with her sister as she tries to recover.
“She can’t step foot inside this house,” Jose said.
One close friend, Dereon Bernard, 13, said Xavier taught her how to spell her name in sign language.
She said she had always looked up to Xavier, and after she asked him for months, he said she could become the “co-founder” of his clothing company.
“He never let people influence him. He always did things different,” she said. “If they was gonna do something bad he was like, ‘No, I’m not gonna do it.’ He was his own person. I feel sad. He was a good person. He didn’t deserve this.”
“He didn’t turn 18,” she added. “People never thought it was going to be him.”
Dereon’s father, Samuel Bernard, suggested Xavier was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“He really wanted to finish school,” he said. “He was like, ‘I’m gonna finish school.’ He was adamant about finishing high school.’
The block where Xavier was shot is part of the Diego Beekman Mutual Housing Association, a nonprofit tenant organization that fought druglords and slumlords and ultimately took control of 38 buildings in 2003.
Diego Beekman’s security system uses facial recognition linked to electronic key fobs, and residents and neighbors who spoke to The City in 2021 said they supported the technology.
Xavier was killed just steps away from where a 17-year-old was slain in 2022 and a young boy was shot and wounded last year.
A group of masked gunmen shot Jordany Aracena to death on Beekman Ave. near E. 141st St. on Sept. 25, 2022.
Jordany was an aspiring drill rapper, and police sources said at the time cops believed he was killed in retaliation for his lyrics. A 17-year-old suspect was arrested for the shooting days later.
On Sept. 12, 2023, an 8-year-old boy was shot in the leg as he was stepping off a school bus at the same location. A witness told the Daily News he stepped into the crossfire between two warring shooters. The boy survived.
“Hot? This block is sizzling!” a 57-year-old neighbor who declined to give his name said Sunday. “Oh, I’m moving. I’ve been here three years and I want to move already. … I thought this was a very peaceful place.”