#JusticeForJunior

Trigger Warning: Graphic Violence

That was the first thing I saw on my Instagram when I woke up on Thursday morning. I had just gotten back from Vegas late in the night the day before and haven't seen any of my family members yet since they were all sleeping when I tip-toed in. I freaked out a bit -- we call my brother Junior, too -- "there is no way it could be him", I thought. The thing is, I almost did think it was him. My brother is also a young Dominican kid who often goes out at night alone returning on his own accord, rightfully so since he is grown enough. Lucky for me and my family, it wasn't my brother. Unfortunately, it was someone else's brother. Someone else's son. Someone else's nephew. Someone else's friend.

The next few minutes I was stuck in bed scrolling and reading every single post. To me it seemed that it was an innocent kid who was at the wrong place at the wrong time. I read how he asked a relative for $5 so he could get something quickly to eat on his block. He probably went to the Chicken Spot on the corner -- I kept reading. At some point in time a group of local men involved in a Dominican Gang started to chase the 15 year old child. Junior, alone and afraid, ran into his local Bodega and probably felt confident that they would help him. After all, will a group of grown men who took his dollars everyday and watched him grow up let him be dragged out and murdered? The answer to this question is actually not what he probably thought, surprisingly enough.

I watched the gruesome video of a helpless child being shooed away by the Bodegueros as several men grabbed Junior and dragged him so forcefully, both of his shoes came off. During this time the Bodegueros looked on to the violent events as they unfolded and two of them even followed the group to the door, perhaps to ensure that they were off their property. Junior fought with all that he could, but he had no chance against the five grown men who repeatedly beat and stabbed him with machetes. While this violent murder continue several things happen simultaneously:

1. A bodeguero in the bodega goes outside to see what's going on, sees the violent attack of a child, and walks back inside the store.

2. Two people in scrubs walk past the violent attack, presumably from a shift at St Barnabas Hospital located two blocks away, they take a quick look and shuffle away.

3. The remaining bodegueros are hearing the attack unfold from inside the store.

4. People take out their recording devices from above the bodega and from the windows of their apartments and record the grueling murder.

5. Junior runs back into the bodega, battered and bloody. None of the bodegueros call 911.

6. Junior notices no one is helping him, so he runs 2 blocks with several stab wounds including the fatal one to an artery in his neck as an attempt to save his own life.

7. No one helps.

After seeing this video I began to cry. "How could this happen?," I asked myself. I walked into my kitchen where I saw my mami preparing us a meal. "Did you hear about the kid who got stabbed?," my mami asked me. "His name was Junior." Mami's son's name is Junior too. We sat there and spoke, trying to make sense of it all. How do we make sense of a senseless killing?

Not even 24 hours have passed by at this point and people were trying to slander this child's name on social media. Some posted about not knowing what he did to deserve that. But, does any child deserve to be executed like that for any reason? If he did do something, for example, the law-abiding consequence would be to call the police to have him arrested for a crime -- if it were even applicable. Others posted a sex tape that involved a young girl being recorded by a young man as she has sexual intercourse with another young man. Apparently, the young girl was exposed by a young man who some thought resembled Junior. When I watched that video, I knew it wasn't him. Even if it was, does that warrant the death penalty without a judge, jury, or fair trial?

As the story unfolded on social media, everyone began to make assumptions. The boy who was killed must have done something to deserve it. If he wasn't out late at night alone, he wouldn't have been killed. He must've been a bad kid if a gang targeted him. His mom shouldn't have let him out of the house while it was dark. He must've been hanging out with the wrong people. He was part of the gang and either wanted out or didn't do as he was told. You know what they say about assumptions ... Truth is, none of these claims are true. You know what is true? This was a case of mistaken identity.

I spent the next day thinking about Junior and I lay in bed awake terrorized by these thoughts. On Friday, I watched another video. This video was taken by a passer-by as Junior sat bleeding on the pavement. Junior ran to the hospital two blocks away maimed by several stab wounds including the fatal one to an artery in his neck. As he was dying he tried to help himself when no one else did. Some people attempted to help him although they didn't even know what happened -- all they saw was a child who was butchered and alone. Several locals tried to help him as they had a sad memory permanently etched into their brains. None of those good samaritans will ever forget what it felt like to attempt to apply pressure on a dying child as two police officers on duty attempted to begin an investigation without even trying to aid the victim. "That's my brother!," was screamed in the background. Again, I cried endlessly into my pillow.

This was how far Junior ran to the hospital. Only a five minute walk, 2 blocks away. This probably felt like an eternity.

It was Saturday now and there seemed to be a bit of light at the end of the tunnel from my perspective. Although it was not my loss to grieve due to me not knowing Junior, I was glad to at least see that there were leads on the five men involved in this murder. After the brutal crime, the men involved escaped into two cars with plates that were caught on camera. In my opinion, they dragged him out of the Bodega because they didn't think there were cameras outside and a worker shooed them out. Thankfully, the entire murder was caught in detail by the surrounding camera system. That was probably the only thing the bodegueros did right -- keep the high quality camera system fully functioning. Every man involved tried to flee either to a different state or a different country. One of them had his mom turn him in to police. Today, all suspects are now in custody.

A gang member has since apologized on behalf of his members for slaughtering a child on the street like an animal. This half-assed shit makes me realize that nothing can truly bring back someone from the dead. What does an apology do for his family, friends, and community? The gang member (the article claims he is a leader, but no one promoting violent deaths by machetes is a leader of mine) admits he has kicked out the murderers from the gang. But, how many other murderers are members of this gang? How many more murders will they be responsible for as a gang? Can you truly apologize for a senseless killing as you continue to promote violence?

The biggest problem in this murderous event is obviously the men who willfully chose to pursue a child with the intent of killing him. If they did not choose to commit such a sinful and unforgivable act, Junior would have gotten back to his loving home with a full belly and that beautiful smile of his. People can judge him and his family all they want, but that doesn't mask the fact that he was an innocent child who did not deserve to be murdered. He and his family did not know or were prepared for what happened to him that Wednesday night. Nothing he could have done on his own could have prevented what happened to him.

The second biggest problem can be attributed to the Bystander Effect. In short, this phenomenon is described as a group of people failing to help during an emergency situation given that there are others present as well. It's actually ironic because this theory was founded based on a case that also happened in NYC -- all the way back in 1964. A woman was stabbed to death outside of her apartment with an audience, since no one decided to intervene even by simply calling 911 from the comfort of their own home. Similar to this case, onlookers assigned the responsibility to someone else. For example, some may have assigned the bodegueros responsibility to call 911 because they saw it from the beginning and it was happening on their property during their work shift. In addition, social influence allowed people to take out their phones and record since that's what everyone does now-a-days. Truth is, if you can record a violent murder; you are not in shock and shock is not preventing you from calling 911, you are just a fucking negligent asshole.

The third biggest problem is that there were people who would be classified as first responders on the scene and they did not jump to their duty to assist in de-escalating the situation and providing aid. The two people in scrubs looked on to the scene of the crime as it happened and simply left at a normal walking pace while still looking at Junior being beaten and stabbed. While I do not expect everyone to jump in to the opportunity of being stabbed with machetes in order to save someone's life, I do admit that I often hope there is some kind of hero like this somewhere. Nonetheless, I'm not saying the people surrounding should have given their own life in this situation -- but they should have at least called 911. The two people dressed in scrubs could have saved Junior's life by taking persevering measures that the average person does not know. In addition, the two police attempting to investigate Junior's murder before he even died fucked up severely. They asked questions during the most crucial time of this child's life when they could have helped take him inside, or help EMT locate the victim. That's a negligence suit on my block.

Back to the bodegueros -- they ignored Junior's cries for help. To me, that's a crime within itself. As he begged for someone to help him they told the men who caught up to him "not here" as a recent interview from bodeguero reveals. The bodeguero in the interview is being secretly recorded by a local as he admits that he believed the gangs claims that Junior committed a crime against them. He goes on to insult Junior's family without any evidence making things up as he goes. His family members are drunks, he was not a good kid, his mom came out to the news with a dress up to here, and I didn't want that to happen on my property. They say don't speak ill of the dead, but do you really think a grieving family is fair game? Fuck you and your bodega.

One last thing that is not only very detrimental in Junior's case, but will continue to fuck us up is the hood mentality. The rhetoric that continues to spread is "mind your business" and "take care of your own." But, how is a child being chased and murdered by grown men right in front of your own eyes not your business? How is a kid from the block not your own? I get it, I live in the Bronx too. B Bullies realize just how dangerous it is to walk our streets, but somehow we are still proud of where we are from. How can we be proud of where we come from if the community we speak of is just an illusion?

The fact of the matter is that we must work together to break down this ignorant hood mentality. I understand that it is difficult because in part, it has been created way back when as a means of protection. The thing is, times have changed. If you have a high quality security system surrounding your Bodega like that, you also have a door that locks inside where you could have hid the kid and called for help. If you have an iPhone, which I don't doubt the people who recorded the crime had, there is now a setting where you can press a button and have 911 called to your GPS location. Did you know that you don't even have to speak to the 911 operator to have help on the way?

Now, we can all take the time to imagine what the results of this case would be if life-saving measures were take. What would've happened if the bodegueros listened to a kid's pleas for help? Maybe they could have locked the gang out. What about if they tried to do a tug of war with the child? After all, there were more bodegueros inside of the bodega at one point than there were gang members. At that point the gang was not armed and there weren't enough of them to successfully pull Junior out. Instead, the bodegueros shooed a helpless child away (edit: here is the video that surfaced after I originally published this post that proves my fucking point). What about if the people in scrubs would've called for back-up or stayed on the scene until help arrived? Truth is, average people aren't trained the way hospital workers are to take life-saving measures and every second Junior was left alone was one that was taken off his life-line. How about if the bodegueros finally called for help once Junior walked back into the bodega bloodied? At this point they could have definitely called without immediate threats to their own safety since I know that's what they were thinking about the entire time. Lastly, what if the police officers at St. Barnabas would have helped? Honestly, we can never know what the result would have been. But, it's important to analyze and learn from different decisions being taken leading to different outcomes.

Innumerable supporters have left lit candles, posters, and stuffed animals in front of the bodega where Junior received his fatal stab wounds by five cowards. I continuously think about how many times I have been in that very same bodega while visiting my friend who lives on that same block. This could have been me. This could have been you. Hundreds of candles now stand where a child was killed in front of a negligent audience. While it is nice to see the amount of support the family has received, why do we have to wait until a tragedy starts to come together as a community? Where was the community (with those present) the night Junior was killed?

I know that the family appreciates the support they are receiving during this very difficult time, but I can't help to think about the what-ifs. The turmoil occurring in my own mind and the amount of questions I ask myself are incomparible to what this family is going through.I urge everyone to support any way they can and learn from this senseless murder.

1. Fuck promoting violence in our communities. Uncle Tom does enough of that already.

2. Don't be a bystander.

3. Jump to your call to action. You swore an oath -- hold yourself accountable.

4. Shut shit down.

5. Work together to dismantle stereotypical views, in this case, the hood mentality.

My condolences to Junior's family. I truly feel for you and haven't been able to stop thinking about a child who didn't get to live his life. Graduate high school. Go to prom. Graduate college. Become the police officer he always dreamed of being. Get married. Have children. An invaluable life cut short by none other than senseless violence. Please continue to support Junior's family by donating to his GoFundMe.

#JusticeForJunior #TodosSomosJunior #BoycottTheBodega

Funeral arrangements for Lesandro “Junior”Guzman Feliz

• Will be held at R.G. Ortiz Funeral Home located on 524 southern boulevard Bronx,NY 10455 during the dates June 25th & 26th from 3pm-9pm

• Officers will be present, but the arrangements will be available to the public

• No violence will be permitted

• Keep in mind, a family is currently grieving

Disclaimer:

1. I do not own any of the images posted or linked. I also chose not to post the graphic and explicit videos described. I am not responsible for the media the articles post or if you find the videos on your own. His mother initially said she wanted the videos to be spread in order to help her son's case, but I am unsure of her views now that the suspects are in custody.

2. This is an opinion piece where I used the facts available to form my own opinion on this subject. I do not intend to offend anyone with this blog post, especially those related to Junior. I assure that any offense taken would be a misunderstanding -- I am on Junior's side. Please contact me directly if there are any issues.