This story is part of The Dallas Morning News’ homicide project focused on sharing the stories of all people killed in Dallas in 2024.

When Victor Dennis Antoine was 14, he set his sights on buying his first car.

He started washing neighbors’ cars on weekends at his dad’s apartment complex, did such a good job the manager gave him a regular spot to set up his business and saved enough to buy a Toyota Camry, champagne gold.

Still too young to drive, he did the next best thing.

“He just cleaned it and sat in it,” said his aunt, Quintessa Antoine, smiling at the memory as she wore a T-shirt commemorating his short life.

Victor was shot outside his apartment May 3. He was 18 and parking a silver 2006 Chrysler 300 he bought with money earned selling his first car.

He was pronounced dead at Baylor University Medical Center the next day.

Dallas police arrested 19-year-old Dominique Latrell Davidson on May 14. Davidson drove a car with four others inside to the Murdeaux Villas apartments, in southeast Dallas near where Loop 12 meets C.F. Hawn Freeway, according to an arrest warrant. Davidson told police the others fired the deadly shots. A grand jury has indicted Davidson; his attorney declined to comment.

The family doesn’t know why Victor was targeted.

Man Man

When Victor was a baby, his dad, also named Victor Antoine, gave him a nickname: Man Man. It stuck, even though his dad would also call him Little Vic. Man Man grew up in Carrollton, where he lived with his mom, and later moved to Dallas to live with his dad.

“He was quiet,” said his grandfather, the family’s first Victor Antoine. “In fact, if you didn’t go check, you wouldn’t even know he was in the room.”

Grandfather Antoine taught his son how to fix cars, and he taught Man Man.

The rhythm of Man Man’s life, said his grandmother Melissa Antoine, was work, save money, buy a car, fix it up, sell it, work to save more and buy the next one.

Besides washing cars for money, he cleaned apartments and worked for Fletcher’s Corny Dogs, selling at the State Fair of Texas and other special events.

“We have only good things to say about Victor, and we will deeply miss his presence at the fair this year,” owner GG Fletcher said in a statement. “From the very beginning, Victor was a great employee.”

Even his fellow workers, Fletcher said, knew how excited he was about his second car.

When he found out about his next job, at a tire recycler where his dad worked, he called his dad with the good news. His dad wanted to take him out to celebrate, but they never made it.

Man Man was shot the same day.

“Yes sir” and “no ma’am”

Man Man’s father moved out of the apartments to a place he feels safer, Quintessa said. He is too angry to talk about his son, look at his picture or even hear his name.

Sitting together, the family talks about everything they’ll miss.

His surprise visits, just to check on them, before leaving to check on his mom and sisters, too. The “yes sir” and “no ma’am,” every time, no reminder necessary. How he never wanted his grandmother to spend her money on him, once saying he didn’t need a whole birthday cake — a cupcake was enough. Watching him graduate next year from high school.

The third car he’ll never buy.