SAN ANTONIO – After a 14-year-old boy was shot dead one week ago, people in the community are anxious for news of an arrest in the case.
According to San Antonio police, Simon Cuevas III was involved in a fight with other teens on April 16 when someone shot and killed him.
The shooting happened on Merida Street, just a couple of blocks from Brewer Academy, the site of an alternative school that Cuevas attended.
As of Wednesday morning, a SAPD public information officer told KSAT 12 News that there were no updates to the case and the investigation is ongoing.
“No arrests,” said Rudy Sanchez, after dropping off his sixth grader at Brewer’s campus. “So I’ve been worried about that. My son, he goes, ‘I don’t want to go to school.’”
Sanchez and his wife, Lilliana, said they initially were in the dark about the deadly shooting. They said they didn’t receive word about it from the school or know the campus had been placed on lockdown until nearly two hours after it happened.
Now, they also feel ill-informed about what is happening with efforts to catch the people involved.
In the meantime, though, they’re not taking any chances with their son’s safety. They are intentionally driving him to school late each day and picking him up early to avoid any trouble that might break out.
“We’re doing it for safety, and we pick him up (early) for safety, as well,” said Lilliana Sanchez.
The shooting has affected people off campus, as well.
Diana Garay lives in the neighborhood and has been keeping a watchful eye on a memorial set up at the site where Cuevas was found on the corner of Merida and South Elmendorf streets.
Each day as Garay and her daughter walk by, they make sure the growing number of balloons and flowers is all in order.
“We just pass, and we pick up his things,” Garay said.
Regina Guevara stopped by the site for the first time on Wednesday.
Although she didn’t know Cuevas personally, Garay became emotional at the sight of the tributes others have left at the corner.
“It’s sad because he is — he’s a baby, you know?" Garay said, choking back tears. “He had a future.”
Guevara, who said she lost two children to violence, said any time there is a crime involving children, it “piques her interest.”
She refers to herself as a community health worker, someone who cares deeply about the city.
As a result, Guevara said she is having trouble understanding why more isn’t being done to solve this case quickly.
“If we were in the right community, at the right school, the police would be working a little bit faster,” Guevara said. “But it would be based on that community action, where people would be making outcries.”
Garay said she is equally frustrated by what seems to be a lack of progress so far.
“I’m just mad, the fact that they haven’t caught the person yet,” Garay said. “I mean, for all we know, they’re probably sitting in class right now.”
That would be the Sanchezes’ worst fear, that the person who gunned down one teen might be anywhere near their son.
Until they hear the killer is caught, they said they’ll continue with their plan to keep their child safe.
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