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William, the teenager killed for being in the wrong place at the worst time

2023-06-08T08:53:45.525Z

Highlights: William Bonilla, 15, was shot dead in front of his home in Villaverde, Madrid, in December. Police arrested three people a few weeks ago for their participation in the crime. The investigation points to two previous incidents, one in the subway and another in a street. The decision was made after a meeting between several of the band's leaders in Madrid, police say."Why did my son die?" Ingrid, William Bonilla's mother, was crossing the Atlantic when she learned of the arrests.


The boy shot in a plaza in front of his house in December in Villaverde was a random victim who was in the place that the Dominican Don't Play chose to take revenge for several previous confrontations.


At the entrance of the small family home, rests one of the last living photos of a smiling William, next to a lit candle and a glass of water. "Water is for him," explains his grandfather Ramón, pointing to the image of the teenager, "in case he is thirsty." From the balcony of the living room, you can see a small blinking red light emanating a handful of candles at one end of the square. It's night and the sparkles illuminate the street altar with the eternal William graffiti that the 15-year-old's friends raised six months ago, when he was shot dead right there in front of his home, in the Villaverde district of Madrid. Today, the family also begins to have some of that light in the midst of the gloom in which they got those shots that resounded on December 4 and that made William's mother go out to the balcony and see her little one take his last steps.

The VI Group of Homicides of the National Police in Madrid arrested three people a few weeks ago for their participation in the crime. They are two men, a Dominican and a Cuban, and a Spanish woman who respond to the initials of S. R., R. O. and J. C., respectively, who allegedly belong to the choir (group, in their jargon) of Alcobendas of the Dominican Don't Play (DDP).

As in all crimes of youth gangs, the motives for the murder are diluted in a sea of silences and half-stories. The investigation points to two previous incidents, one in the subway and another in a street in Villaverde, as a trigger for one of the leaders of the DDP to give the order to attack their enemies, the Trinitarians. The decision was made after a meeting between several of the band's leaders in Madrid. What the police do consider proven, according to various sources, is that William was not a member of any organization and that he was not the target, but to attack that square, considered one of the strategic points of the Trinitarians.

"Why did my son die?"

The tearful scream of Ingrid, William Bonilla's mother, was crossing the Atlantic a few days ago through the telephone, when she learned of the arrests. In December, he returned to the Dominican Republic because it was impossible for him to stay in that house in Madrid. It gave her time to go downstairs and get to the street when the teenager had a thread of life left. The answer to your question reflects the nonsense of youth gang dynamics. He died for being in the wrong place at the worst time. He died because a leader of the DDP, one of the predominant gangs in Madrid, gave the order to make a fall, an aggression, in that square on that day. And William was there with his best friend, like every day. He died of a gunshot, as might have been another.

That night, around eleven o'clock, the teenager had just gone down to the square to hang out with some friends, as he usually did to record videos for social networks, play dominoes or do hairstyles for his friends. "That day, he was lying in bed, he slept with me at that time, they called him and he told us he was down 20 minutes. It was normal, that he looked out and, if he saw someone, he would get off for a while, "summarizes grandfather Ramón. According to witnesses, when he was next to some containers with one of them, they saw a hooded boy approaching Villastar Street. Reaching the height of the two boys, he took out a pistol and fired several times.

One of the bullets grazed the boy who was with William and another hit his neck and was fatal. The teenager was still able to walk a few meters until he collapsed. The shooter walked away shouting "D3," one of the Dominican Don't Play signs. Another of the young men who was in the square came out after the shooter, who fled in the direction in which he had arrived.

He was also shot as the gunman shouted, "Esta pa'ti." This other victim required hospital care. The escape was possible because a vehicle, allegedly driven by the detained woman, was waiting for her in the vicinity of the small square in which there is a playground and a handful of tables with benches. Despite it being a cold winter night, the square quickly filled with people, who saw how the efforts of the health workers to save William's life were futile.

The grandparents of William Bonilla, murdered last December, pose at the scene of the murder in front of their home in Villaverde in Madrid. Andrea Comas

It was Christmas Day when William's grandfather was able to travel with the boy's body to his family's country after the judge gave permission. There he rests, while here, in Madrid, his friends and family honor him on the 4th of each month, the day he died. This last Sunday they celebrated a mass on the occasion of the six months of the crime. The family today sees how those responses that have been made since December 4 are approaching, although this does not completely extinguish their anger. Above all, because they still do not find a cause. "They took his life, but they also took it from us," laments the grandmother, Josefina. Shortly after the crime, William's best friend and father tattooed the boy's name on their arms, along with the date he died. Too soon, at 15 years old.

The victim was the youngest of three brothers, the only one who had been born here, when all were already installed in Spain. The first to arrive was grandmother Josefina, in 1999, as a domestic worker in the district of Retiro. Little by little, the rest of the family members arrived. In those early years they lived in Valdeacederas, but 17 years ago they moved to Villaverde. In 2002 William's mother arrived, who began working as an intern for a family in the Moncloa area. But in 2007 she became pregnant and her employers told her she could no longer stay there, relatives say.

On the landing at the door of the Bonilla house, William's red bike still rests on the railing. The sofa bed on which he sometimes slept remains folded next to a bouquet of blue flowers that the teenager's schoolmates brought to the house a few days after the murder. Grandma Josefina carefully keeps an envelope with all the photos that her friends printed and gave them. His voice singing in the bathroom loudly as he prepares to go outside still echoes in the heads of his loved ones.

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Source: elparis

All news articles on 2023-06-08

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