Berkeley mourns Kenny Houff, 17, after fatal shooting
His classmates will honor him this week as school begins. The family has launched a GoFundMe to help with logistics after his death.
By Kate Darby Rauch
Kenny Houff III and his large family were approaching the new school year with the usual nerves and excitement. It was going to be a special one for Kenny — his senior year at Berkeley Technology Academy.
This changed suddenly a little over a week ago, when Kenny, who turned 17 in May, was killed in a shooting in Oakland. Now the family is reeling from loss and grief.
The Berkeley school community is reeling at their side.
"He was so excited, because this was his last year and he was getting ready to graduate," said Reeana Pollard, Kenny’s older sister. Her world now is day by day, she said: "It’s been difficult for me."
A low-key kid who liked clothes, video games and family, Kenny’s death was a painful shock to his loved ones.
"It definitely came out of the blue," said Sophina Jones, a school counselor at Berkeley Technology Academy (BTA) who knows Kenny’s family well. "It was very much something that surprised all of us."
Jones last saw Kenny on the final day of summer school, July 12.
"He was very quiet. He kept emotions to himself. He would just listen and take it all in," Jones said.
"I’d see him laughing with his friends and that would be the bright spot," she said. "He had a lot of friends, that’s where his personality would come out the most."
Kenny, she said, "was like a homebody for a lot of his time in high school, especially with the pandemic, home with his mom, taking care of his sisters."
Kenny Houff's family has launched a GoFundMe in the wake of his tragic death. Courtesy
At school, Kenny was driven to make his mother proud, Jones said.
He liked health class and working in BTA's Growing Leaders food pantry and community garden program. He liked the work, and he liked the paycheck, she said.
"I think he was interested in being an entrepreneur, maybe having his own clothing brand," Jones said.
Pollard, 21, said her brother loved cars and was learning how to work on them.
He was looking into getting licensed to buy and sell cars from auctions. He was goofy and fun, a mixture of outgoing and staying to himself.
"Well-mannered, respectable and caring," she said.
Before BTA, Kenny attended Sylvia Mendez Elementary, Longfellow Middle School and Berkeley High.
On Aug. 2, Oakland police responding to a ShotSpotter alert found Kenny's body in the 7800 block of Garfield Avenue just after 6 p.m. He had been shot and was pronounced dead at the scene.
No arrests have been made. The investigation is ongoing.
"A solid presence for the whole family"
Kenny’s family has deep Berkeley roots. His mom, Tawana Grant, grew up in the city, raising him and his four sisters, mostly on her own. Kenny was her only son.
The family moved around a bit, mainly due to finances, but has lived mostly in Berkeley.
In addition to those four sisters, Kenny had siblings on his dad’s side, two sisters and a brother. He had started getting closer with his dad after a distant period, Pollard said.
He also had nieces and nephews, aunts and uncles, and grandmothers. "He… loved his family more than anything," his sister said.
"He was a solid presence for the whole family," said Aarón Lechuga, restorative justice counselor at Longfellow Middle School. "Mom is just devastated."
Lechuga described Kenny as "solid, cool, calm, collected, respectful, a deep thinker, wise beyond his years."
He added: "He was super fashionable; a bit of a lady’s man."
Though he graduated from Longfellow years ago, Kenny would often stop by to visit, Lechuga said. "He was, honestly, stand up; you could trust him and you knew he could speak the truth," he said.
BTA wellness center will be dedicated to Kenny Houff
Lechuga described Kenny’s death as a spiral, starting with his immediate family and heading out in "ripples that touch the rest of the community."
His friends and their families. Teachers and school staff. Paths he crossed. "There are a lot of lives touched," Lechuga said.
As a counselor working with students who often know hardship, Lechuga said what’s important now for young people grappling with Kenny’s death is "to hold them and support them. To help them make sense of it or find a place for it."
Not to tell them how to mourn, he said, but to help them find their way.
"To respect where they’re at, and determine where they’re at, and meet them where they’re at," Lechuga said.
At Berkeley Technology Academy, this will start early Wednesday, the first day of school, Jones said.
BTA's wellness center will be dedicated to Kenny, with pictures and candles, and mental health counselors will be on hand for anyone who needs it.
"It’s not going to be a regular start to the day," she said. "A lot of his classmates are suffering from this loss."
She added: "We hope to have a space for them to deal with these feelings, and not to expect anything from them too early."
Two balloon releases and a barbecue at Grove Park have already been held for Kenny, organized by his family and friends. A service is still being planned, Pollard said.
The family also launched a GoFundMe to help with logistics after Kenny's death. As of publication time, community members had pledged more than $10,000.
"The love of the community is coming towards [Kenny’s mom] and I think she’s surviving, " Jones reflected. "I can’t even say she’s coping. I think all of us are one sheet away from losing it all."
For a moment, her voice cracks: "He was so fashionable. I was looking forward to him going to prom, seeing what he’d come up with."
Emilie Raguso
For Jones, and many in the Berkeley school community, Kenny’s death was a difficult reminder of the October 2022 shooting deaths of Angel and Jazy Sotelo Garcia, teenage brothers who attended Berkeley High.
The boys, described by authorities as innocent victims, were killed at a friend’s birthday party in North Oakland.
"We barely are healed from the loss of the little brothers, and now this," Jones said. "We’re not even breathing anymore. We’re constantly walking around on an inhale."
Oakland police ask anyone with information about the case to call OPD's Homicide Section at 510-238-3821 or its tip line at 510-238-7950. OPD asks anyone with videos or photos that could help with the investigation to email cidvideos@oaklandca.gov.
Kate Darby Rauch spent more than 10 years as a daily news reporter with the East Bay Times and has freelanced for numerous publications, including the Washington Post, Newsday, the Seattle Times, San Francisco Chronicle and Oakland Magazine.
