Remembering Jacob Salas
Sandra Martinez

Well to start off from what his step-mom told me, Jacob was playing a game called open chest with his best friend Richard and they agreed to punch each other until one of them gave up. Jacob, being so prideful, probably wouldn't have given up until something happened, which it did. The second blow to his chest made him collapse. When this was happening Jacob, his father, and Evelyn, his step-mother, were not home. Jacob was only 16 and he would have been 17 on April 21st. A couple of his friends and his younger sisters were there and I can imagine shocked and scared. His girlfriend Alicia tried to give him CPR and he gained consciousness, but immediately passed out and died. This happened on the south side of San Jose. Jacob lived on Senter Road, a couple minutes down from Andrew Hill High School.

For the time that I knew Jacob, four years, he was dealing with issues. He had an anger problem and was in and out of juvenile hall. Despite his behavior issues I think he was trying to prove that he was just as tough as all of his older friends. Because some of things I saw as we went through relationship, I believe that he had no self-esteem. He came from a family where his mother and father were split apart and from what Jacob told me his father was physically abusive towards his mother. He was the eldest in his family. He had three younger sisters and two younger brothers.

Jacob gave off a "hard" image and liked having control of everyone around him. When we were alone though, he would break his "hard" image and he was more in touch with his sensitive side. Because of our own reasons we had to end our relationship and could no longer be in that situation. I was there for him through a lot of his tough times and I really believe that he needed someone like me in his life during those times. I wish more than anything that I could have known what was going to happen to him, maybe I could have been there for him one more time. But destiny is destiny and things happen the way that they are supposed to happen and for whatever reason they are supposed to happen. I go to visit him at his grave and I pray for him at night, hoping that he is happy wherever he is right now.

I know that there is a lot of similar violence like this. This type of violence is accidental, but there is a lot of purposeful violence in San Jose. In the past two months there have been three shootings. I think a lot of this violence is people trying to prove that they are tough. A lot of killings that happen are because people are trying to get into the gang scene.