Homero Escobar Jr. 16, was shot to death in broad daylight at Arcadia Park.
Homero Escobar Jr. worked at Subway and attended Dallas Can Academy high school. Known in his family as Bubba, he loved sports and lifting weights, and family members say he could light up a room with his smile.
The Oak Cliff 16-year-old was shot to death at Arcadia Park in broad daylight, at 12:30 p.m. Thursday, July 23.
Homero Escobar Jr. was known as Bubba in his family.
His aunt Norma Rodriguez says he left her house near Cockrell Hill and walked to Jefferson Boulevard, where someone picked him up and took him to the park. He was pistol whipped, shot four times and beaten, she says. An employee of Arcadia Park tried to resuscitate him, and he died at the hospital.
Rodriguez believes her nephew was set up to be killed. She says the family doesn’t believe his death was related to gangs or drug trade, but it is just the latest in a streak of deadly violence in Arcadia Park and west Oak Cliff.
Escobar is not the first high-schooler to die from gun violence recently.
A 14-year-old Molina High School student, John Zuniga, was shot to death at about 3:15 p.m. Wednesday, July 15, in the 2700 block of Texas Drive, not far from Stockard Middle School.
Other recent gun deaths in west Oak Cliff and Arcadia Park include that of Ivan Saucedo Ramirez, 27, who was shot to death at 2:30 p.m. April 29 in the 2700 block of Remond Drive. A man who police have not identified was shot to death while sitting in his car at a carwash on Justin Avenue at West Davis in Arcadia Park at 8:10 p.m. June 20. Albert Santoya, 31, was found dead of “homicidal violence” in a ditch in the 5100 block of Keeneland Parkway on April. 5.
Not only is this the hardest-hit part of Dallas County for COVID-19, it’s also a violence hotspot.
John Zuniga, 14, was shot to death near Stockard Middle School at 3:15 p.m. Wednesday, July 15.
Escobar’s family remembered him during a funeral service Wednesday as a boy who could make everyone laugh, who was generous with his cousins and grandparents and who loved working.
Friends and family members at his funeral Wednesday wore masks printed with “Justice for Bubba” and T-shirts with his photo. They are planning a vigil for him and other victims of gun violence at 7 p.m. Friday at Arcadia Park.
“The way they took my nephew out is devastating,” Rodriguez says. “It’s the worst way to lose someone.”
