Kimberley Benavidez lost her 17-year-old son, Geoffrey Roland Shafer, on July 26 to gun violence.
SAN ANTONIO — As San Antonio police search for a suspected shooter, a grieving mother is sharing a message about gun violence.
Kimberley Benavidez lost her 17-year-old son, Geoffrey Roland Shafer on July 26. San Antonio police said Shafer was shot several times after meeting up with someone for what they suspect was a drug deal.
It happened off the 900 block of East Dullnig Court around 7 p.m. that night. Benavidez got a call from her son’s girlfriend about his phone being pinged at that location. She rushed to the scene and hours later, found out he was the victim.
“He was only 17 years old,” Benavidez said.
Sunday afternoon, family and friends gathered for a vigil where photos of Shafer were on display from when he was just a baby to his teenage years.
“There are so many young children getting killed and I just can’t believe my son became one of those statistics,” Benavidez said.
Benavidez said she thinks people will assume he did not come from a supportive household but she insists that is not the case. She said she would have talks with her son about his future.
“You can go two directions when you hang around the wrong crowd,” she said. “It’s either death or you go to prison.”
She said Shafer graduated early from high school, had dreams of becoming a barber and was getting ready to enroll in college.
But she said he did struggle with grief over the past few years. Two years ago, she said his father unexpectedly died in a hit and run.
“It was just so hard for him,” Benavidez said. “I can feel in my heart that he is with his dad, watching over his sister and me and his family.”
She is hopeful her family will gain justice. But prays for an end to gun violence among young kids.
“I just want to tell other parents, to hold onto their babies,” Benavidez said. “You don’t know what they’re doing.”
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