What does the qualifier "someone like him" mean in this context? Is getting killed by anyone not terrible? I don't see how getting killed by a former honor-rol

What does the qualifier "someone like him" mean in this context? Is getting killed by anyone not terrible? I don't see how getting killed by a former honor-roll student who left an abusive household two years before he was legally allowed to drive, had already been shot, and was left on the streets paranoid, mentally-ill and traumatized before he was even past the age of majority, is any worse than getting killed by just about anyone.