Instead of celebrating a graduation, a Mesa family was in court for the teen charged with shooting and killing their son.
Red Mountain football player Jeremiah Aviles was remembered at graduation this week. The teen who had plans to go to college in the fall was shot and killed in early May. A teammate is accused of shooting him.
Olga Lopez says for every court hearing going forward regarding her son’s shooting death, she plans to wear his football jersey.
She says the grit and determination her son showed on the field, she hopes to convey in court.
“My son stepped out onto the field every time, and that’s what’s needed to face those who did this to him,” she said.
Earlier this month, 18-year-old Jeremiah Aviles was found shot and killed in the Mesa home where his teammate Peter Clabron III was living.
Court documents state Clabron told 911 operators the gun "went off" and the person with the gun had left.
Another witness later went to police unsolicited and determined that was not true.
“Who came up with this lie?” asked Lopez.
Video obtained through a search warrant of Clabron's phone showed Clabron pointing a handgun at Aviles several times and shooting it in the air.
Clabron was in court on Friday where he plead not guilty to manslaughter charges, according to Lopez.
Lopez said she had an encounter with Clabron’s mother.
”A mother who looks me in the face and tells me she rendered aid to my baby, but yet her son killed him… it’s tormenting,” she said.
Aviles was honored with vigils leading up to graduation, his burial included mourning teammates who wore Aviles' picture on custom shirts and friends and family painted a parking spot near the football field in his honor.
Aviles was supposed to graduate on Thursday. Lopez said she wanted to walk in his honor but instead, there was just an empty seat where her son was supposed to be.
In the fall, Aviles planned to study business at ASU.
His brother Jamie Diaz says Aviles could have played football but had bigger plans off the field.
“He said he wanted to know the ins and outs to work for himself,” said Diaz
Family wanted to make one thing clear about the road ahead in justice for Aviles.
“We do not, in any way shape or form, forgive the murderer,” said Lopez.
Clabron’s trial will begin in September.
