The moment Adriana Cervantes of Aurora first heard the name of her son’s alleged killer is one she’ll never forget.
It was 1:53 p.m. on Saturday when she got the call from Aurora Police Department detectives that two men had been charged with the murder of her 19-year-old son, Daniel Sanchez.
But, hearing one of the suspect’s names came as a complete shock, she said.
“I knew him. He came and played in my backyard when he went to Lincoln (Elementary School) with Danny,” she said.
He was the same boy who grew up down the block.
Sanchez, a 2014 West Aurora High School graduate, was gunned down during an alleged armed robbery in an industrial area in the 600 block of South Elmwood Drive Nov. 7.
Within a week of the shooting, video surveillance taken from nearby businesses led to the arrest of three people, two of whom were eventually charged with the crime.
Leon Williams, 21, 2400 block of North Farnsworth Avenue, and Keyonn Lovelace, 18, 400 block of North Union Street, were each charged with three counts of first-degree murder. In addition, Williams, the alleged trigger man, was charged with two counts of armed robbery. Lovelace faces a single count.
A third man questioned, an 18-year-old from Aurora, was released without charges, police said.
Sanchez’s family said on the day he was murdered, Sanchez was to be at work by 1 p.m. to start his shift at O’Reilly Auto Parts. Police believe a quick marijuana deal that occurred around noon escalated into murder.
Police said Williams scheduled a meeting with Sanchez to buy marijuana, but enlisted Lovelace’s help in robbing Sanchez, instead. Williams, Lovelace and another man allegedly drove Sanchez to an industrial area where Williams pulled out a weapon and demanded Sanchez’s money and marijuana, police said.
Sanchez allegedly fought back and was shot by Williams in the head and leg as he ran from the car, police said.
According to Aurora police, Sanchez was not involved in gangs and had minimal contact with officers in the past. Evidence found at the scene and the statements of the suspects have led detectives to conclude an apparent drug deal went bad.
Cervantes said she did not know Lovelace, but knew Williams and the other man in the car who is not being named because he was released without being charged.
“I was like, ‘I had these kids at my house,'” Cervantes said, addressing the arrests.
Sanchez’s sisters said they were also stunned when they realized the alleged killer had a familiar face. The girls went to school with Williams and his siblings.
In the days following Sanchez’s death, there was a steady flow of friends filing through the slain man’s house. Some Cervantes knew well, she said. Others were fresh faces, met with cautious regard.
“You don’t know who you could trust in your house,” Cervantes said. In her eyes, anyone could be her son’s killer, she said.
“He has so many friends. I thought, ‘Should I kick everyone out of the house? Who can I trust?'”
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Cervantes said she was “that mom,” constantly warning her son that one bad decision could change his life. She said in this instance, it did.
“Sometimes you talk to your kids until you’re blue in the face and they’re going to do what they’re going to do, and that’s unfortunate,” she said. “But, we need to keep talking.”
Now that arrests have been made, Cervantes looks forward to justice being served. She said she just wants to make sure that happens via the court system and not on the streets.
“I told all the kids that were here to not even think about (retaliating) against anyone,” she said. “I don’t want to see another mother suffering. This is the worst….Just put the guns down. I can’t say it enough.”
As she sat around the family’s kitchen table on Monday, surrounded by her surviving daughters — the youngest, 2, asleep in her lap — Cervantes recalled a message she wants to make sure is heard.
“A pastor came and did a vigil and he said to take this (tragedy) and use it to do good for Danny,” Cervantes said. “He told them that when you do good, remember Danny. Before you make a stupid move, remember Danny. No more kids need to be dying. It’s not worth a life.”