Family of baby killed in drive-by shooting spends first holiday without son
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MESA, Ariz. (KPHO/KTVK) — The Mesa Police Department said on Thursday detectives are at a critical point in the investigation into the Mesa drive-by shooting at a food truck event that killed a baby boy and left six people hurt. Still no arrest of the suspected shooter. And now, one of the families impacted is experiencing their first holiday without their beloved baby boy.
“Every morning, knowing I don’t have him, I try to sleep. It’s heavy, it’s hard, hurtful because he was with me all the time. He was with me everywhere,” said Gisela Abina, Sebastian’s mother.
Gerado Duran and Abina are trying to find reasons to be grateful on Thanksgiving. But they lost 1-year-old baby Sebastian on Friday, Oct. 16 at a food truck event near Dobson and Guadalupe roads. That’s when a gunman opened fire. A total of seven people were shot. Sebastian was sitting next to his mom and playing on her cellphone when he was shot in the head. Duran’s two other children, 16-year-old Edgar and 6-year-old Citlay were also hit.
“Today, Thanksgiving, it’s a little worse because it’s about enjoying the family, give thanks for everything we have and after this happened we can’t have happiness at all,” said Duran.
For Duran and Abina, the holiday is filled with pain.
“He was a child with an enormous heart. He always smiled and would never be mad,” said Abina.
As the family tries to heal from that horrific night, they try and find ways to keep Sebastian’s memory alive and Abina tries to find comfort any way she can.
“Some days I feel like he’s still around me. At times, when I go to the cemetery, a scent comes to me that reminds me of when he was with me, a smell of a baby. I feel like it’s him,” said Abina.
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