‘He loved soccer and going to church’: Teen shot to death in Twin Peaks restaurant parking lot

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. (KCTV) - Late Saturday night, the Independence Police Department responded to a shooting near the I-470 and Route 291 Cloverleaf interchange.

The shooting happened around 11 p.m. on Nov. 16 at the Twin Peaks restaurant on 19821 East Jackson Drive.

When officers arrived, they found 19-year-old Gabriel Garcia de los Santos - a recent graduate of Van Horn High School - in the parking lot with a gunshot wound. He was taken to an area hospital and later pronounced dead.

A person of interest was taken into custody at the restaurant but later released.

The circumstances leading up to the shooting are unclear, but it is under investigation. Independence police said there is no threat to the community.

The Twin Peaks general manager said they could not comment on the incident, but confirmed it happened in their parking lot.

A GoFundMe has been set up by a family friend who remembered Gabriel as a boy who “loved playing soccer, going to church, and hanging out with friends.”

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