Justice in the form of an arrest was little comfort for family members of 13-year-old Miguel Saavedra, who came out in droves Friday, July 17, to trace the youngster’s steps before he was mercilessly stabbed to death.
Just hours before Miguel’s mother Elidia and dozens of others arrived at the corner of East 15th Street and Avenue X to mourn the teen’s death, police said that they arrested 19-year-old Juan Reyes in connection with the July 15 slaying.
Witnesses told police that Saavedra, a resident of Sheepshead Bay Road, and Reyes, a resident of Avenue U, were arguing at 7:30 p.m. that night when Reyes allegedly chased Saavedra down on a bicycle and repeatedly plunged a screwdriver into his torso.
After being stabbed, the Shell Bank Junior High School student ran off. Residents spotted him about a block away, covered in blood.
Resident Maurico Bermudez told reporters that he saw Saavedra and tried to render assistance. The teen showed Bermudez the gaping holes in his side, but asked him not to call the police.
The teen then walked away, stumbled and fell, Bermudez recalled.
“I’m in shock,” he told reporters at the vigil. “I couldn’t sleep that night. I close my eyes, I picture his face.”
Prosecutors said that Reyes, who had been arrested in 2006 on drugs and weapons possession charges, was remanded to custody at his arraignment. The case is currently before a grand jury.
Detectives said that they were searching for two more teens involved in the fracas, which may have centered around the use of the handball courts at the nearby Mellett Playground on Avenue V and East 14th Street.
Police sources said that Reyes and his friends routinely went to the playground, but Saavedra and his friends would often take up the courts.
The groups reportedly had words two days before Miguel’s death.
A source said that during an earlier argument, Saavedra had referred to his “gang,” although it isn’t believed that he was part of any criminal organization.
“He may have meant his group of friends,” the source said.
Police are trying to determine if this so-called “gang talk” could have led to the deadly escalation.
But there was no talk of gangs Friday night. Instead, family and friends lovingly talked about “a good friend and brother” who was taken far too early.
“This is the worst thing that has ever happened,” wrote one mourner in a missive attached to flowers at the site where Saavedra was killed. “He’s the best, but now he’s in God’s hands.”
Mourners solemnly marched from East 15th Street and X to the Mellett Playground, where more flowers were laid.
Through it all, family members demanded that the police arrest the remaining two suspects in the 13-year-old’s death.
“Look what you did to the family, Mr. Reyes,” a family spokesman said. “There was others that day, and we want them to come to justice as well.”
As of this writing, family members were planning to bring Saavedra back to Mexico for burial.
