A story that recently came to the news was all three. Police were called out to a park to investigate a little boy's shoe sticking out of the sand. They found a 3 to 5 year old boy who had been buried underneath a playground at Alvarado Park. Police said he had been dead for more than 48 hours. There was outrage from the community on why someone would just leave a boy buried at the park. But that outrage turned into compassion for the little boy. Police were having a hard time IDing the boy because of his youth not having medical records.
So the community decided to hold candlelight vigil's at 9pm each night until the boys identity was found. Neighbors took up
donations for the boys funeral and one local mortuary took to the story of the community trying to help and donated the whole funeral. Different names for the boy came about one was Baby Justice the other was Baby Angel. Eventually the media
and community members used Baby Angel. This set of images is from the first night.
I was amazed on how many people came out for this boy's vigil. Complete strangers that would just take the time to pay their respect and pray for justice. Some would leave candles others would leave toys. Tears were shed for this unknown boy. I heard majority of the people saying they would of taken the boy home if the parents didn't want them.
The vigil on the first night had more than 80 people coming for this child.The steady crowd seemed to stop around 9:20 or so
and a few people just stayed as long as they could.
On Thursday May 21, 2009 police found a suspect and brought her in for questioning. It was the mother and she told police she suffocated the boy and buried him at the playground. The ID of the boy was released as Tyrus Toribio. The mother is currently in jail on an open count of murder charge among child abuse charges.
If only the mother knew how much this boy was wanted and loved by so many.
2 comments:
Thanks for putting a caring face on this incredibly sad story, Nick.
No problem Tracy. As a journalist I am reluctant to donate money or place flowers at the memorial sites but I feel my photos can do a better justice for what people really feel.
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