GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The family of Luis Gonzalez set up a make-shift memorial where he took some of his last breaths after being gunned down on Coate Court Saturday morning.
“They just set him over there where the cross is, and that’s when the ambulance came and everything,” Lupe, Gonzalez’s God-sister, recalled.
She didn’t want her full name used, but she offered kinds words about a young man she grew up with.
“He was, in every way I could think of, he was a good person. He honestly didn’t deserve that,” she said.
Gonzalez, 16, was hanging out with family and friends on Coate when a car drove by.
“I just heard gunshots. That’s it. I thought they were fireworks,” she said.
One of Gonzalez’s cousins say that the 16-year-old Union High School student was shot twice. Friends tried to get him down the street to a nearby home, but he stopped short.
“In general, in every way, he was innocent,” Lupe said.
Grand Rapids police said Gonzalez was not the intended target. FOX 17 spoke with other friends and family who were with Gonzalez the moment he was shot. They said no one hanging out in their group has gang affiliations, but they believe the shooters in the vehicle did..
“Time goes by, we’re gonna like, know that he’s in a better place and know that he’s gonna want us to be happy for him that he’s not here in this world anymore,” she added.
Anyone with information regarding Gonzalez’s murder is asked to call Silent Observer at 616-774-2345.
