“All I Saw Were Bloody Nikes”
A Family Deals With a Drive By Shooting
Story by Armando Sanchez // Art by Samuel Rodriguez

Last year my family and I were victims of the war between the Sureños and Norteños. I know that this kind of incident happens all over San Jose and has been a problem for decades in the Latino community, but I ask myself: Why is there so much hatred among each other?
 
It was supposed to be the day they crucified Christ, Holy Friday.   That's when Hell manifested into my life. I never thought it could happen to me or my family, but I guess I was just being too optimistic. I heard it all the time in the news, "Today on the six o'clock news, a person was gunned down... and it may be gang related."
 
Having grown up in a violent environment, gang violence is something I'm used to. I just became numb to it, because it didn't affect me directly. That is, until my sister, my cousin and their boyfriends were shot at Santee Drive in East San Jose. My family and I were eating that evening, having a good time and telling jokes, until we heard the phone ring. I picked it up and all I heard was screaming and yelling from my uncle saying that my sister and my cuz were shot.  At first I thought he was playing some sick joke on us, but he sounded like he meant it and told us where to go.

After I hung up the phone, I drove my parents to the area where they got shot, but by the time we got there the police were closing down the area and were investigating the crime scene. The paramedics were already taking them to the hospital, and all we got to see were some bloody Nikes on the ground. My mind was just thinking the worst. I thought that they were already dead, but I kept my hopes up and prayed they were all right.
 
We drove to the hospital on Meridian and waited for an hour to see if they arrived there and were told that they were sent to the hospital on Santa Clara Street. At this point, my family and I were real anxious and mad. So we drove down to the other hospital and once we got there, all of my folks were there and had everything all under control. The doctors informed us that they were in stable condition, but were in shock and still had a few gun pellets all over their bodies. After a few hours my sister was released, given some medication and a shot to calm her down. My other cousin was there a little bit longer because she had a couple of pellets in her abdomen. Their boyfriends were also there and had some of the pellets in their backs and legs and were released that same evening.

Days after the incident, my sister told me what happened. All she remembered was a van pulling up from the street and a man with a black hood holding a shotgun, and then she began to run and passed out.