(NewsNation) – Tawfiq Ajaq was born and raised in Gretna, Louisiana. He was a free spirit who enjoyed nature and spending time with friends.

This is how Ajaq’s father Hafez will remember his 17-year-old son killed in the West Bank on Friday by Israeli fire. Officials say an Israeli civilian and off-duty police officer shot and killed Ajaq, also known as Tawfic Abdel Jabbar.

“Smart boy, had a lot of dreams, joked, laughed and made fun of me, his mother, his brothers,” Hafez Ajaq, who is also known as Hafeth Abdel Jabbar, said on Monday on “CUOMO.” “He loves the forest, he loves being out and about. … He just likes being out with friends and just being free.”

Israeli authorities have launched an investigation into the incident, which has devastated the teenager’s family. Other family members expressed deep grief in an interview this weekend on “NewsNation Prime” and are struggling to understand the details surrounding Ajaq’s death.

The 17-year-old was in the West Bank to find out more about his origins. His parents brought him and his four siblings to the village of Al-Mazra’a Ash-Sharqiya last year so they could reconnect with Palestinian culture.

Tensions in the West Bank have increased since the Israel-Hamas war began in October, and nearly 370 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since then. The Biden administration has repeatedly expressed concern in recent months about Israeli settler violence against Palestinians.

Ajaq believes his son – who he said was not involved in any protests – was a victim of this violence.

“He didn’t do anything wrong,” Ajaq said. “You deliberately killed my son in cold blood. This is cold-blooded murder.”

The circumstances of the shooting remained unclear.

Ajaq’s relative Joe Abdel Qaki said Ajaq and a friend were barbecuing in a village field when he was shot once in the head and once in the chest by Israeli fire.

Abdel Qaki said he arrived at the field shortly after the shooting and helped transport Ajaq to an ambulance. He said Israeli forces briefly detained him and other Palestinians at the scene and asked for their identification before the men could get to Ajaq.

He said Ajaq died in the ambulance on the way to a hospital.

Israeli police said they received a report on Friday of a “firearms discharge allegedly involving an off-duty police officer, a soldier and a civilian.” Police did not say who fired the shot, but said the shooting targeted people “allegedly engaged in rock-throwing activities along Highway 60,” the main north-south highway in the West Bank.

Tawfiq Ajaq’s family previously told NewsNation that they believe the attacker may have been an Israeli soldier. Hafez Ajaq says he experienced harassment on the same street where his son was shot.

“It’s very common for the soldiers to park their car on the side of the road, go up and hide among the trees or under the hill, and when someone comes up, they come out and point their weapons,” Ajaq said.

On Saturday, crowds of Palestinians streamed through the village streets, following men who held up a stretcher containing the teenager’s body wrapped in a Palestinian flag. At the funeral, Hafez Ajaq implored Americans to “see with their own eyes” the ongoing violence in the West Bank.

“American society doesn’t know the real story,” he said. “Come here and see what’s going on. … How many fathers and mothers have to say goodbye to their children? How many more?”

On Monday, he called on the Biden administration to continue to provide military support to Israel.

“My question is to my government, to my president, to my foreign minister, to my government: When will this stop?” Ajaq said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.