In the final weeks of his life, 18-year-old Yoan Del Risco Falcon had just celebrated his birthday. Born on October 10, 2008, the young man’s life was cut short in a violent encounter that has left a family in mourning and a community searching for answers. His funeral services were entrusted to the Chism-Smith Funeral Home in Irving, Texas, where loved ones gathered to remember him.
The night he died began with the sound of gunfire in an Arlington, Texas, apartment complex.
At approximately 2:54 a.m. on Sunday, October 25, 2026, a resident of the Arlington Park Apartments on East Park Row Drive called the police to report hearing shots. Officers from the Arlington Police Department responded to the 3100 block of the street but initially found no sign of a crime. There was no victim, no suspect, and no immediate evidence that a shooting had occurred. The complex, a typical suburban collection of brick apartment buildings, held its secrets for the moment.
About 30 minutes after that first 911 call, another police department became involved. Fort Worth police were dispatched at 3:08 a.m. to a QuikTrip gas station in the 6600 block of Brentwood Stair Road. There, some 12 miles from the Arlington apartment complex, they discovered Yoan Del Risco Falcon inside his vehicle. He had sustained a gunshot wound to his chest and was pronounced dead at the scene. The Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office would later confirm his time of death as 3:33 a.m.
A cooperating witness who had been with Yoan told Fort Worth officers that the shooting had taken place back at the Arlington Park Apartments. With this new information, Arlington police returned to the original scene. This time, their search uncovered several shell casings in the parking lot, confirming the witness’s account and establishing the location as a homicide scene. The investigation was officially taken over by the Arlington Police Department, as the fatal injury had been inflicted within their jurisdiction.
The strange and tragic circumstances of Yoan’s death left many unsettled. One resident of the apartment complex expressed fear for the children who play nearby, telling a reporter, "If somebody they get into an argument or a fight over there, and the kids are playing here. One of these little kids might take a bullet, you know, and that's been having nothing to do with it." A customer at the gas station where Yoan was found also shared her sorrow, stating, "we're losing so many young people either to death or to prison, and it's just sad."
Homicide detectives with the Arlington Police Department are actively working to piece together the events that led to the shooting and to identify the person or people responsible. The witness who was with Yoan was not injured and has been cooperating with the investigation. Still, many questions remain about what happened in the parking lot and during the desperate, 12-mile drive from Arlington to Fort Worth.
As of late October 2026, no arrests have been made in the case, and police have not publicly identified a suspect or a motive for the shooting. The investigation remains ongoing. Anyone with information is encouraged to contact Detective Dixon of the Arlington Police Department at 817-459-5579. Anonymous tips can also be submitted to Crime Stoppers of Tarrant County at 817-469-8477.
