One of the last living photos of a smiling William stands next to a burning candle and a glass of water at the entrance to the small family home. “The water is for him,” explains his grandfather Ramón, pointing to the picture of the teenager, “in case he’s thirsty.” From the living room balcony you can see a small flickering red light, lit by a handful of candles at one end of the place. It’s night and the glitter illuminates the street altar with the indelible William graffiti put up by the 15-year-old’s friends six months ago when he was shot dead outside his home in Madrid’s Villaverde district. Today, the family is also beginning to have some of the light in the gloom that the December 4 shooting sent them into, causing Williams’ mother to go out onto the balcony and watch her little boy take his final steps .
A few weeks ago, the National Police’s Homicide Unit VI in Madrid arrested three people for involvement in the crime. They are two men, a Dominican and a Cuban, and a Spaniard, answering the initials SR, RO, and JC respectively, and presumably belonging to the chorus (group, in their jargon) of Alcobendas of the Dominican Don’t Play (PDD ).
As with all crimes involving youth gangs, the motives behind the murder are diluted in a sea of silence and half-stories. The investigation indicates that two earlier incidents, one on the subway and the other on a street in Villaverde, were what prompted one of the DDP leaders to give the order to attack their enemies, the Trinitarians. The decision was made after a meeting of several leaders of the gang in Madrid. What the police take for granted, according to various sources, is that William did not belong to any organization and that it was not his aim to attack this square, which was considered one of the Trinitarians’ strategic points.
“Why did my son die?”
The heartbreaking cry of Ingrid, William Bonilla’s mother, crossed the Atlantic over the phone a few days ago when she heard of the arrests. In December he returned to the Dominican Republic, unable to stay in this house in Madrid. She had time to go down the stairs and reach the street when the youth had a thread of life left. The answer to your question reflects the nonsense of youth gang dynamics. He died because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He died because a leader of the DDP, one of the predominant gangs in Madrid, gave the order for a fall, an attack on that square that day. And William, like every day, was there with his best friend. He died from a shot, as could have been any other.
That evening, around eleven o’clock, the teenager had just gone onto the square to hang out with some friends, as he usually did, recording videos for social networks, playing dominoes or giving his friends hairdos. “That day he was in bed, he was sleeping with me at the time, they called him and he told us he would come down for 20 minutes. It was normal for him to pay attention and, if he saw someone, to get out for a while,” sums up grandfather Ramón. According to witnesses, as he stood with one of them next to some containers, they saw a hooded boy approaching Villastar Street. When he reached the height of the two boys, he drew a pistol and fired several shots.
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One of the bullets hit the boy who was with William and another hit his neck and was fatal. The teenager was able to walk a few more meters before collapsing. The shooter walked away yelling “D3,” one of the signs for the Dominican “Don’t Play.” Another young man who was in the square came after the gunman, who fled in the direction he had come from.
He too was shot while the gunman shouted “Esta pa’ti”. This other victim required hospital treatment. The escape was possible because near the small square, where there is a children’s playground and a handful of tables with benches, a vehicle was waiting for him, presumably driven by the arrested woman. Although it was a cold winter night, the square quickly filled with people who saw that the paramedics’ efforts to save William’s life were futile.
The grandparents of William Bonilla, who was murdered last December, pose at the scene in front of their home in Villaverde, Madrid. Andrea Comas
It was Christmas Day when William’s grandfather was allowed to travel to his family’s country with the boy’s body after the judge gave permission. There he rests while his friends and family honor him here in Madrid on the 4th of every month, the day of his death. Last Sunday they celebrated a big mass on the occasion of the six-month crime. The family today sees the responses made since December 4 growing closer, although it doesn’t entirely dampen their anger. Mainly because they still can’t find a cause. “They took his life, but they also took it from us,” complains grandmother Josefina. Shortly after the crime, William’s best friend and his father had the boy’s name and date of death tattooed on his arm. Too early, at 15.
The victim was the youngest of three brothers, the only one born here when they were all already settled in Spain. The first to come was grandmother Josefina, in 1999 as a domestic worker in the Retiro district. Gradually, the other family members arrived. In the early years they lived in Valdeacederas, but 17 years ago they moved to Villaverde. In 2002 came William’s mother, who began working as an intern with a family in the Moncloa area. But in 2007 she became pregnant and her employers told her she could not stay there any longer, her relatives say.
On the landing outside the Bonillas’ door, William’s red bike is still perched on the banister. The sofa bed he sometimes slept on remains folded up next to a bouquet of blue flowers that the teen’s schoolmates brought inside a few days after the murder. Grandma Josefina carefully keeps an envelope with all the photos that her friends have printed out and given to them. His voice, singing loudly in the bathroom as he prepares to go outside, still echoes in the minds of his loved ones.
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