MESA, AZ — A Valley family is in pursuit of triumph amid their greatest tragedy.
Jeremiah Aviles' family has started a foundation in the name of Jeremiah, the Red Mountain High School teen shot and killed last month.
We all grieve in different ways.
For Jamie Diaz, he just got done enduring the piercing pain of getting his late brother, Jeremiah, tattooed on his leg.
He said it took eight hours, so far.
“Honestly, I needed the pain, we’ve had a lot of emotional pain,” he said showing off the tattoo that covers his calf.
For Olga Lopez, she said she didn’t want to wallow in sorrow after last month’s plea hearing for the teammate charged in her 18-year-old son’s death.
”Jeremiah is about others,” Lopez said.
Instead, she and her family did what they felt Jeremiah would have done at that moment – get to work.
"I remember asking ‘How soon are you thinking we start the store?’ In that moment I just remember saying, ‘Today,’” Lopez said.
On the same day the family attended one of the first court hearing for the teen charged in connection with Jeremiah’s shooting death, the family started the Jeremiah Aviles Foundation.
“Jeremiah wanted to become a business owner,” she said about her son who planned to study business at ASU in the fall.
The store is called Juice Studios, named after the "juice" or energy Jeremiah brought to the field as a Red Mountain football player.
Proceeds from the store will go to the foundation, which provides a scholarship for two seniors who embody Jeremiah’s character so they can be coached to pursue college, trade school, or a business endeavor.
One senior will be selected from Red Mountain High School, the other from St. Paul High School in Whittier, California, another community Jeremiah grew up in before moving to Arizona.
“This is all him. Every time I close my eyes, every time I open my eyes, I see my son. His drive, his determination, his perseverance, no matter what he was doing. Now I have to embody that, times two," said Lopez.
Jeremiah was shot and killed early last month at the home where his teammate Peter Clabron III was living.
Clabron pleaded not guilty to manslaughter in Jeremiah’s death.
Court documents state Clabron told police the gun just went off. Another witness told police, that wasn’t the case.
Lopez knows her son would bring his signature energy to any plan to help others.
When asked what her son would say about the plan if he were still here, Lopez smiled and loudly said, “Let's go!” then said she could still hear her son’s voice.
