California Teen Slain Outside McDonald’s Was Weeks Away from US Air Force Training

Caleb Quick neared the start of an exciting new chapter in life before tragedy struck Wednesday night.

In a couple of weeks, the 18-year-old senior would graduate high school. In June, he’d leave Clovis, where he was born and raised, and depart to Texas for basic military training as an enlisted recruit for the U.S. Air Force. Wednesday evening, he and a group of close friends attended a Tucker Wetmore concert at the Clovis Rodeo — the kickoff to what the teenagers planned to be a fun and festive week at the annual rodeo.

Hours later, Caleb’s life came to an abrupt end. An unknown gunman shot and killed the teen in a McDonald’s parking lot at the Willow Station shopping plaza shortly before 9 p.m. Wednesday. As of Thursday night, police were still searching for the suspect — who fled with a gun and wearing black clothing, including a pullover hoodie — and investigating a possible motive.

Friends and family who gathered at the McDonald’s parking lot Thursday afternoon to mourn Caleb’s death described him as energetic, selfless and caring. Several friends who were with him in his final hours were shocked by the tragic death.

Mia Banda, a longtime friend of Caleb’s, hugged him outside the rodeo grounds in Old Town Clovis after the concert.

“I walked him out, and I was the last person to give him a hug before he left. I thought he was going home,” Banda told The Bee.

When Banda and Caleb’s friends who’d attended the concert with him learned that he’d been shot late Wednesday night, they hurried to the scene in a pickup truck, speeding past eight red lights to get there as fast as they could.

On Thursday afternoon, they returned to the parking lot where the incident happened and placed flowers, lassos, cowboy hats under a tree with a wooden cross in front of the McDonald’s. One friend left Caleb’s favorite order from the fast-food restaurant on the memorial — a McChicken with extra mayo and pomegranate juice.

Banda wore Caleb’s denim jacket and recounted some of her happiest moments with him. She said they would often hang out at the McDonald’s parking lot during weekends and sit on the bed of a friend’s pickup truck as they ate chicken sandwiches and listened to music.

“At Easter, just a couple days ago, he was on our mechanical bull and got thrown off,” Banda said.

Dozens of people paid their respects at the parking lot on Thursday, including friends who attended church with Caleb or went to school with him.

Emma Anderson, a student at Buchanan High School, said Caleb “was like an older brother” who “was always there for you, always had your back.”

“He was always super funny. I had P.E. with him, and he was just always wanting to be the first at everything, always wanting to come out on top. It was just his spirit,” Anderson said.

Caleb previously attended Buchanan High before transferring to Clovis Online School, a charter program that is not affiliated with a specific high school campus.

Friends who attended Clovis Hills Community Church with Caleb described him as kindhearted. Caleb would pick up friends from Madera and give them a ride home, and never asked for or accepted gas money, according to one friend who asked not to be named.

Another friend recalled that during a summer camp, when some teens shared their personal stories and tough times, Caleb was ready to give his friends a hug.

“He had a huge heart. He wanted to make everybody happy. I feel like that was his goal in his life, to put a smile on everyone’s face,” said Christina Schick, who was Caleb’s math tutor his freshman year.

Schick and her husband, Erich Schick, are longtime friends of the Quick family. They said Caleb loved to explore new hobbies — last year he developed an interest in rodeo — and was trying to figure out what lied ahead for him as he entered young adulthood.

“A lot of people got to know him just because of his faith. He was very much about being present in his church community, helping as a leader and bringing more people to Christ. It was really beautiful to watch,” Erich Schick said.

Schick said Caleb’s immediate family, along with dozens of teens who were friends with him, went to Clovis Hills Community Church on Thursday to pay their respects.

“The impact he had on these (kids) is really, really beautiful,” Erich Schick said.

As dusk fell, Caleb’s parents, grandparents, younger brother and relatives arrived at the Willow Station parking lot. The group quietly embraced each other by the tree.

They were next to the memorial, their heads bowed down and hands held in prayer for Caleb —grieving the sudden end of a life they felt held so much promise.

“You would never think in Clovis something so surreal like this would happen, where someone’s life could be taken away in an instant,” Banda said. “It is scary and nerve-wracking.”

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