Mother recounts the night her son was shot, killed in Dallas

EDITOR'S NOTE: The charges were dismissed against Nicholas Tallent in January 2024. According to the District Attorney's Office, he acted in self defense.

Shortly before her son Chris was shot, Angela Wery told him she loved him for the last time.

The two were on the phone at around 11:45 p.m. Tuesday night, and Wery was driving to pick him up from a neighborhood in Dallas.

"And he told me that he was near Long Creek Fish Camp. And he told me to take a left there. And I did take a left there, and I went down the road and I couldn't find him but he actually meant the next left," she said. "So I went back out to the stop sign and sat there and waited, and I called his father and we had a conversation, and I tried to call his girlfriend and I couldn't get her because she was already in the bed."

While Wery was trying to figure out where to go, she saw police officers driving quickly down the road.

"And I guess my motherly gut instinct kicked in, and I followed them. And they led me to where Chris was," she said.

Chris Wery, 25, was shot at a home on Eastway Drive in Dallas. Police say another man, Nicholas Max Tallent, 24, who lived at the home on Eastway Drive, shot Wery through a bedroom door. Wery, who was struck three times, was taken to CaroMont Regional Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.

"I didn't know really what was going on. When I first got there… the police had their guns drawn, and they told me to back up," Wery said.

She saw one of her son's friends in handcuffs, along with Tallent.

"And that's when I knew that something bad had happened," she said.

Now, she's trying to piece together what might have happened.

"He was so young and so full of life. I'll never be able to see him grow up, have a family of his own," she said, speaking through tears. "I just want the truth."

Chris Wery grew up in Dallas. He played baseball, and he graduated from North Gaston High School in 2015. The night he was shot, he was visiting a friend, and that friend was also friends with Tallent, Wery said.

"I really don't know what happened," she said. "I'm just telling everyone that we're going to have to find out."

Her son, she said, was her biggest protector. She had him at the age of 18, and in a way, she feels the two grew up together.

"He was such a protector of everyone. He loved to make people feel safe around him," she said. "He will be greatly missed."

She hadn't yet had a chance to view her son's body on Wednesday.

"Right now, I'm kind of taking it hour by hour. And I'm trying to stay strong for my 23 year old, which is Chris' brother. He's having a really hard time right now," she said.

Seeing Tallent, at the scene and then later in a courtroom video, was difficult.

"It's not a good feeling because you look at it as not only one life is ruined, but both lives, at such a young age," she said.

This article originally appeared on The Gaston Gazette: Man was shot multiple times through door, prosecutors say