PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — “Please help me to find closure to this,” Maria Balbuena said as she uncontrollably sobbed. “I need to know why.”
Balbuena knelt Tuesday afternoon in front of a memorial made of balloons, candles, sneakers, a book bag, and even a scooter for her 15-year-old son, Juan Carlos-Robles Corona. A vigil was held there for him after he was shot and killed less than a block away from his North Philadelphia school.
“Please, please help me find who did this to him,” she cried, “because he didn’t deserve this.”
Robles-Corona was gunned down at 15th Street and Susquehanna Avenue, between the boy’s home and school, Dr. Tanner G. Duckrey Public School. He was only a couple of blocks away from Duckrey when he was ambushed, police said.
Around 3 p.m., authorities said two suspects walked up along both sides of the street, cornering him. Nearly 30 shots were fired, hitting Robles-Corona in the torso about five times. He died at the hospital.
A makeshift memorial, about a block off of Temple University’s campus, now marks where the eighth-grader was attacked: his bright yellow sneakers, his backpack, the Auntie Anne’s shirt he wore to work.
His uncle, Marcus Balbuena, was one of the dozens of loved ones, friends, and classmates to gather at the vigil. He said the family is shaken to its core.
“I can’t believe that it happened, this thing.” he shared.
Balbuena said she knew something was wrong when he failed to walk his brothers home from school.
“I called his cell phone, and the police officer picked up the phone and told me that he was in the hospital,” she said.
Maria Balbuena said her son got into a fight around 2 p.m. Monday and left school, but he went back within the hour to pick up his brothers. She said his life was cut way too short.
“He had dreams,” she said. “He was just learning to know how to drive. We just celebrated his birthday two months ago.”
The first morning without him, it really hit her that he was gone.
“Every morning, he would come in the room and steal perfume from his dad,” she remembered. “This morning, nothing happened. This morning, there was only silence in the house.”
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“He didn’t deserve to go out like this, to be left in the middle of the street like garbage,” she shared through tears.
Maria Balbuena said it warmed her heart that so many people came to a vigil for Corona Tuesday afternoon. He was the oldest of four children. Family members said he played an instrumental part in his brothers’ lives, and he worked at Auntie Anne’s pretzel shop in the Fashion District.
“I thank you guys very much, those who came to put a candle for him. I just need your help to find closure, to know what happened,” she added.
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On Tuesday, Philadelphia School District Superintendent William Hite said extra counselors are being sent to the Duckrey school to support students and staff.
“Unfortunately, we’ve gotten very good at this, which is the unfortunate reality to all of the violence that many of the schools and communities are experiencing,” he said.
Along with the police department, Hite said the district is developing safe corridor programs at 26 schools, but Duckrey is not among them.
As of Tuesday evening, a motive was still not clear and no arrests had been made.
The City Controller said that Philadelphia has had 125 homicides, a 2% increase compared to this point in 2021, a record homicide year for the city. As of Monday evening, 10 homicide victims were under 18 years old. 33 children under the age of 18 have been shot in Philadelphia.
Kristen Johanson and KYW Staff contributed to this report.
