Rachel Laguardia said that the children of the Mission District shouldn’t have to grieve the death of a 19-year-old youth, who could have very well been their neighbor. This young man was named Jacob Valdiviezo.

Laguardia spoke on the evening that some 200 people gathered to remember @Jay _Valdiviezo (his Twitter handle), or “pollito” (little chicken) as his father, Carlos Valdiviezo, called him. Childhood friends were familiar with the nickname as they attended St. Peters Elementary school together.

The vigil took place at Bryant and 24th streets. It was a sad gathering marked by tears, but also an eloquent act on behalf of a community that grieves, moves, asks questions and complains together. “Justice for Jacob Valdiviezo,” appeared printed on hoodies. There is a deep feeling of sorrow.

Laguardia said that she has a 13 year-old brother who is now panicked and having nightmares. One year before, she says, another one of his friends was assassinated in a similar circumstance—in the Mission, at the expense of gang violence. She told her story before Valdiviezo’s altar, as flowers covered the neighbor’s stairs.

“It’s ridiculous, because you don’t have to be involved in gangs for this to affect you. You don’t have to know someone in the gang to resent the loss. This affects the entire community,” Laguardia said.

Her sister, Rebecca Laguardia, 21, commented: “When you grow up here you learn certain things that you should avoid, like certain signs. You should pay attention to these, because there are ways that you can be hurt, you or all of your family.”

The Laguardia sisters came by to sign a condolence card alongside a dozen boys who joined the mourners. When asked about how to stop the violence in the neighborhood, both offered comments: “It’s not going to stop as long as gang’s don’t stop; as long as other forms of violence don’t stop,” Rachel said.

Rebecca, meanwhile, said, “I don’t think that there will be a solution, it’s part of our culture. Look at Jacob, he was doing everything right, he had good grades, got a scholarship to play soccer, was a good guy, yet, he was affected. So to prevent this from occurring, you have to be attentive, and not show you are vulnerable, you should be alert all the time.” The gangs, continued Rebecca, are “part of our culture; in a sad way, but this is how it is. It’s something that you learn to live with.”

A few steps away, Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi responded to the same question. He spoke of community policing.

Through his experience as supervisor of District 5—which includes the Western Addition, a neighborhood that, he said, for 20 years remained the second most violent of the country—Mirkarimi affirms that it’s possible to reduce crime if the police spend less time patrolling and walk more instead. He suggested that this will allow them to better connect with the community.

At mid-day on April 7, the main bell of the St. Peter’s temple called upon the mourners. The funeral attracted at least five hundred people. About 20 teammates from the Pioneers, Jacob’s football team from the University of Lewis & Clark, in Portland, Oregon, attended. Two years ago, he was enrolled at this university, where he intended to study economics; he arrived, with a scholarship, after graduating from Archbishop Riordan High School.

Valdiviezo was shot in the early morning of March 30 in front of his parent’s house at 24th and Bryant streets, while talking with a friend. The crime is attributed to a Latin man, around 30 years old, who had asked Valdiviezo if he belonged to a gang.

—Translation Angela Lambert