Just last week, things seemed perfect for Bernardo Alfonso Repreza and his family.
Bernardo, a sophomore at Granite High School, was doing fine in his classes. He had just become an uncle. Family members were in town to see the new baby.Then the unimaginable happened.
"We went to get a birth certificate and ended up with a death certificate," said Gordon Clayton, Bernardo's stepfather.
The 15-year-old was killed in a senseless stabbing Halloween night. He was still alive when he arrived at LDS Hospital, but the weapon had struck a major artery, giving him little chance for survival. He had lost too much blood.
Ironically, Bernardo moved to Utah from Los Angeles just four months ago in part to escape California's street violence.
"He said he was worried about getting killed and his family getting killed," said 14-year-old Jake Detorres, a friend of Bernardo's.
"He was a good boy," said his mother, Concepcion Romero, who turned 39 the day Bernardo was killed.
"I can't believe what happened. I went to the hospital and said, `Wake up. Wake up.' I couldn't believe it. He was just a skinny boy. Why would anyone want to fight him?"
While police are calling the stabbing "gang-related," Bernardo's family say he wasn't and didn't want to be a gang member.
"He wasn't a gang member and he wasn't a wanna-be," said his brother Carlos Repreza, 18. "He may have had friends who were gang members. He would be friends with anyone who would be friends with him - whether it was the school geek or a gang member."
On Halloween night, he made a decision that cost him his life. Trying to help a friend, he got into a fight he didn't start. There were gang members in the group he was with, but family members say gang affiliation isn't what started the fight. Racial slurs did.
Bernardo, his brother and a group of friends were out looking for some fun. They were at a party in Magna for a couple of hours but headed downtown after the gathering ended about 11:30 p.m.
Carlos Repreza was driving north on State Street behind another carload of friends. The two cars pulled up to 100 South just before midnight. In the first car, 19-year-old Janell Cooper sat in the passenger seat. The 20 to 30 kids on the corner near the Federal Building apparently didn't like the fact that Cooper is black, Carlos Repreza said.
"They spit towards the car and called him a (racial slur)," he said.
The group on the corner and Cooper apparently exchanged more words, but Carlos Repreza said he couldn't hear it all because his stereo was turned up. The next thing he knew, Cooper jumped out of the car and headed toward the crowd. Then the people riding in the back seat of Carlos Repreza's car jumped out and Bernardo followed.
"I tried to grab him but I couldn't," Carlos Repreza said.
A massive brawl ensued that spread to a parking lot across the street from the Federal Building. Carlos Repreza pulled into the parking lot and saw someone chasing his brother with metal bars and chains. He said he then jumped out and pushed the assailant to the ground. Police found other weapons, including clubs and screwdrivers, at the scene.
Bernardo ran back across the street heading for the corner where the incident started. Carlos Repreza got back into the car and headed to the corner to pick up his brother and leave. But Bernardo never made it.
"I saw him running across the street," Carlos said. "That was the last time I saw him alive."
Someone stabbed him in the stomach sometime after he made it back across 100 South, Carlos Repreza said. His body lay just off the sidewalk on about 100 South and 150 East.
Cooper was stabbed in the leg. He was treated at a nearby hospital and later released.
By the time Carlos Repreza found his brother, Bernardo wasn't breathing. Two men passing by stopped and tried CPR, which got him breathing again. But he lost too much blood at the scene and died shortly after arriving at the hospital.
Dealing with the loss has been rough. The family has written poems about Bernardo and cried over his photographs. They have visited the place where he fell every night to light the candles that mark the spot.
Family members say Bernardo was just like thousands of other teenage boys. He loved collecting baseball cards and building bicycles, his mother said. He was excited to get his driver's license on his 16th birthday in December.
Bernardo wanted to join the Marines after high school, like his brother Luis did. He was bright, outgoing and friendly. He tried to make friends with everybody.
"People will see a photograph of him and they'll say, `Wow, this was a beautiful kid.' But he was also beautiful inside. He was very funny and was always making people laugh," Clayton said.
"He was the type of kid who would say, `I love you, Dad,' when I would take him to school every day," added his father, also named Bernardo Repreza.
Police arrested Colin Reesor, 17, a Hunter High senior, and booked him into the Salt Lake County Jail for investigation of murder.
Reesor was with members of a straight-edge gang hanging out on the corner that evening, police believe. Police say more arrests are expected.
Straight-edge gang members forgo smoking, drinking and sex outside of marriage. Police say, however, they are a violent gang.
Detectives said Reesor's family attended church services Sunday, unaware of the bloody street fight the night before. It wasn't until dinnertime, when everyone was gathered around the table, that the teenager told his parents what had happened.
In the meantime, Bernardo's family is trying to make funeral arrangements. A viewing will be held here before the family takes the body back to Los Angeles for burial.
The family has set up a trust fund to cover the expensive funeral costs. Donations can be made to the Bernardo Repreza fund at any Washington Mutual branch. The money will also help the family pay to get Luis Repreza to the funeral. He is in the Marines serving in Japan.