Community remembers slain 11-year-old
On the second anniversary of Josue Flores’ death, residents, lawmakers and police again plead for information that could give a family and neighborhood closure.
Two years after Josue Flores was fatally stabbed while walking home from school, some things have changed in his Near Northside neighborhood.
The boardinghouses that dot the area have been increasingly targeted and monitored by lawmakers and police. Residents say new law enforcement policies have made the area safer and improved their relationships with officers, and there’s more energy for change now than before the 11year-old was stabbed on May 17, 2016, some 20 times.
But other things remain unchanged. Nearby schoolchildren are still without their smiling classmate who loved math, a killer is at large and Sofia
“He’s gone, and he’s not coming back. … The community still isn’t safe because there’s a killer out there.” Sofia Flores, sister of Josue, 11, who was stabbed to death
“I owe you an apolog y. I feel that we have failed little Josue Flores and his family by not bringing his killer justice.” Silvia Trevino, Precinct 7 constable
Flores lives each day with the memory of her little brother.
“It doesn’t get easier,” the 18year-old said. “He’s gone, and he’s not coming back. … The community still isn’t safe because there’s a killer out there.”
Residents, community advocates, lawmakers and police stood solemnly Thursday at the exact spot on Fulton Street where Josue was killed, again pleading for information that could give a family and neighborhood closure. Already, two suspects have been arrested and released, and while many in attendance say the area feels safer than it once did, fear pervades in the absence of justice.
“I think we are safer,” District H Council Member Karla Cisneros told the crowd of about 100. “But it’s hard to feel safer when we’ve been wounded.”
‘Tipping point’
Since the killing, law enforcement agencies have been more active in the area, and residents say the renewed police presence has improved the neighborhood. Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo and others have repeatedly vowed to deploy whatever they can to solve the killing. That promise has been bolstered by the extra $1 million in overtime pay that was made available to HPD last month after the death of 8-year-old Tristian Hutchins, the 11th child to die from gun violence in the city since December 2016.
Josue’s case has weighed on law enforcement.
“I owe you an apology,” Precinct 7 Constable Silvia Trevino told attendees. “I feel that we have failed little Josue Flores and his family by not bringing his killer justice.”
Others pointed to long-standing issues like poverty as partial culprits. Many of the area’s problems existed before Josue’s killing, but activists say the trauma has been a lightning rod for the neighborhood, and has resulted in more volunteers for initiatives like Safe Walk Home. Josue was walking home from Marshall Middle School when he was attacked, and the program, launched in August 2016, ensures that children are not left alone and vulnerable.
“Unfortunately, Josue’s death was kind of the tipping point,” said Cynthia Reyes-Revilla, a community advocate who grew up in the neighborhood. “But there’s been a lot of progress.”
She and others said there’s long been a handful of residents working to address the neighborhood’s needs. But Josue’s killing has spurred a communitywide movement for change.
‘Make him proud’
Sofia Flores is one of the many who’ve since dedicated themselves to improving the area. She’s still unsure where she wants to go to college next year, but she already knows what she’ll study: education, in honor of her little brother, who wanted her to be a teacher.
She, too, agrees that the neighborhood has gotten better in the last two years. But there is still much work to be done, she said, and like many other Near Northside residents, she is driven by the memory of Josue Flores.
“I’m going to everything possible to make him proud of me and this community,” she said.