Charles Morris Jr., 16, male, Black/African American, left home saying he was going fishing with a friend on Wednesday, June 4, 2025. Not long after, Boynton Beach officers—who had been flagged down around 3:30 p.m. by his father reporting that his son had just been shot—began searching the Preserve at Boynton Beach community. Guided by a 911 caller, they found Charles Morris Jr. on the ground inside a vacant house at 1726 Northeast 6th Street with a gunshot wound to the head.
He was rushed to Delray Medical Center as a trauma alert. Two days later, at about 10:46 a.m. on Friday, June 6, 2025, he was pronounced dead.
Detectives recounted that a friend had told the teen’s mother that Charles Morris Jr. had been robbed shortly before gunfire was heard, a detail that helped shape the early hours of the investigation as police canvassed the neighborhood and tried to reconstruct his final movements. The search in and around the vacant home—set deep in the southeast corner of the Preserve—underscored how quickly a quiet midafternoon turned into a homicide scene centered on a 16-year-old who, according to his family, had been planning an ordinary outing.
As the days passed, grief in Boynton Beach tightened into resolve. Loved ones described the loss and sought help with funeral costs while the investigation pressed on, with detectives appealing for tips from anyone who saw or heard anything in the hours around the shooting. Police said no arrests had been made and did not publicly identify a suspect or motive, even as they continued to piece together why the teenager ended up inside the vacant residence.
By October 2025, authorities amplified the call for information: Crime Stoppers of Palm Beach County announced a $3,000 reward for tips that lead to answers in the killing of Charles Morris Jr., urging the community to come forward and help break the silence that has surrounded the case since that June afternoon. As of that update, investigators still had not announced any arrests or publicly named a suspect.
