Syracuse homicide victim was artist on way to drop off his work, mother says

Tavorn Hunter made T-shirts in honor of homicide victims, his mother said.

Provided photoTavorn Hunter is pictured with his daughter, Princess Tay'Ajah Hunter. He was shot to death Sunday night in Syracuse.

Syracuse, NY -- Tavorn "TaRoc" Hunter made T-shirts honoring homicide victims in Syracuse.

That was before Hunter's death Sunday in a shooting on South State Street.

"Who's going to do his T-shirts?" asked his mother, Shirley Gary, as she held back sobs. She said Hunter, 27, of Syracuse, made airbrush T-shirts for people killed by violence, including Kiwan Rush, 17, who was shot to death Oct. 7 on Eastman Avenue.

On Sunday, Hunter got into an argument with a man armed with a gun. They wrestled on the ground in front of Middle East Market, in the 1900 block of South State Street, witnesses said. The gun went off two or three times, striking Hunter and leaving him bleeding in the street.

He was pronounced dead at Upstate University Hospital after undergoing emergency surgery. Police said the gunman fled onto Elizabeth Street and over to Garfield Avenue.

Gary last saw her son when he dropped her off shortly before 3 p.m. at Van Duyn Home and Hospital, where she is a certified nurse's aide.

Hunter's fiancée told Gary that Hunter returned home, then went to make a delivery of T-shirts. Gary's not sure what he was doing at the corner of South State and East Colvin streets, where the shooting took place.

She was still at work around 5 p.m. when she got the call that her son had been shot. Hunter died at 6:25 p.m. at the hospital.

Gary said her son always loved art. When he was four, he picked up a pencil and started drawing, she said.

He owned Original Graphic Design & Music, using his talents as a painter, drawer, airbrusher and tattoo artist, Gary said.

From a young age, Hunter promised his mother he'd give her a tattoo someday, she said. At 4 a.m. the day he got a tattoo gun, Hunter called his mother and asked if she was ready.

"I had no choice," Gary said, explaining the "Shirley" tattoo on her right arm.

Hunter and his fiancée had a daughter, 11 months. He is also survived by three younger brothers.