Random acts of violence, with children or young adults oftentimes the victims of circumstance or bad timing.

Then the police called her last Friday.

Flores’ son, Juan Cristóbal Flores, had been shot while working at the Goodwill donation center in the 7600 block of East Valencia Road, near South Los Reales Road.

The aspiring classical music vocalist was critically injured and a coworker was seriously injured in the shooting around 9:30 a.m. Dec. 26 in what Pima County Sheriff’s Sgt. David Stivers said Monday was a random act.

“I never thought I was going to be in this situation,” Alma Flores said during a news conference Monday afternoon at St. Joseph’s Hospital, where her son remained in critical condition. “He was working. He was not in the bar, he was not in the street. He was working.”

Juan Flores’s father, Reyes Flores, said his son’s condition has not improved since he was brought into the hospital with what his father described as a “cerebral injury.” Family members indicated that the 30-year-old Flores, an only child, was paralyzed as a result of his injury. 

“It’s a very somber picture,” said the senior Flores after the news conference attended by media and dozens of his son’s friends and choral colleagues. “We have no room but for God’s hands.”

In the days that followed the Friday morning shooting, investigators have tracked down leads from the public and posted photos of the man they suspect is the shooter. As of Monday, Stivers said they were no closer to an arrest.

But Stivers said investigators do believe the shooting was not a targeted event. 

“There’s a lot more to learn, but the violent act itself does not appear to be targeted or any reason behind it that we know of so far,” he said.

Juan Flores grew up in Tucson and started music lessons in grade school, his father said.  

“First grade, second grade, they used to have chorus and also where kids were taught violin and the instruments,” said Flores, who calls his son by his middle name. “Cristóbal tried to study violin at the beginning, but soon, he just realized, I suppose, that voice was his vocation.”

Flores said his son was in choir through high school at Tucson High Magnet before going to the University of Arizona. He majored in vocal performance and was still completing his degree.

For more than 10 years, Juan Flores has been a member of the Catalina United Methodist Church choir as part of the church’s Scholar Singers program, which supports UA student musicians in their academic and vocational pursuits.

Flores also has sung with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra Chorus, the Arizona Opera and, since 2017, with Helios Ensemble, led by founder Benjamin Hansen. 

Flores was supposed to sing a solo during Helios’s spring concert in March. Hansen said that concert will now be dedicated to Flores.

“He’s got so much personality and he’s the gentlest soul, the kindest soul,” Hansen said Monday, surrounded by a half-dozen Helios choristers. “Nobody deserves this, but he was the last person who deserves this.”

At Monday’s news conference, Liz Gulic, CEO of Goodwill Industries of Southern Arizona, said the East Valencia Road Goodwill location is now permanently closed. 

 “I have been here at this Goodwill for 16 years, and I have never seen anything like this,” she said, her voice breaking with emotion. “So I apologize, but this hits near and dear to our heart. As an organization, Goodwill is about helping people, and we have been at that location for 18 years and nothing (has ever happened). It’s just a tragedy.”

No details have been released on the second victim, at the request of her family, Gulic said. 

The Flores family established a Gofundme campaign to raise money for Juan Flores’s medical expenses and long-term recovery costs. You can donate at gofundme.com/f/stand-with-juan-cristobal-flores-local-opera-singer.