A deadly string of gang-related shootings around Los Angeles resulted in the killing of 17-year-old Jamiel Shaw, a high school football star recently recruited by Stanford.

Shaw, who was walking home around 8:30 p.m. on Mar. 2, was approached by gang members in a car. After asking Shaw if he was a member of a gang, and before letting the teen answer, the gang members shot and killed him, according to CNN. Shaw was only three houses away from his own home.

Jamiel Shaw Sr. had just spoken with his son on the phone, but knew when he heard gun shots that his son was in danger. After calling his son to warn him of the gun shots, Shaw Sr. ran outside and found Shaw’s body.

“He was laying on the ground and his face was so peaceful,” Shaw Sr. said in an online video provided by Los Angeles news station KCAL. “I knew he was dead.”

Shaw’s mother, Army Sergeant Anita Shaw, was serving in Iraq when she was informed of her son’s death, though she has now returned to the U.S.

“I freaked out,” she said in the video. “I wanted to run out of the room. I was screaming and kicking.”

Los Angeles police announced yesterday the arrest of Pedro Espinoza, a 19-year-old member of a Hispanic street gang, in relation to the murder. According to CNN, Espinoza could face the death penalty if convicted.

Espinoza was released from jail — where he was held on a charge of assault with a deadly weapon — just one day before the shooting. He is scheduled to be arraigned Mar. 25.