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Flickering memories is played as an eternal loop in Robert Silva’s (53) head.
Details from a day that started as one of the best of his life, and ended in his very, very heaviest.
The sun was shining, as it almost always does in the Texas Gulf of Mexico port city of Corpus Christi, but a cooling breeze reminded them that it was the last day of the year.
They had just driven mum Melinda Cruz (47) to work, dropped big brother Jude off at a friend’s, and gone to Amethyst’s favorite place: the harbor promenade.
– We had a father-daughter day. I wanted to show her off, and she loved seafood, so she got it.
He didn’t eat anything himself, just enjoyed the sight of his eyeball feasting.
The rest of the day they walked along the promenade and talked for several hours.
– I remember every single word.
The memories are all he has left, because later that night a tragedy occurs that will mark the rest of his life.
– When it was getting close to midnight, we went outside the house to take a picture with fireworks in the background.
At 23:59, 31 December 2022, one minute before the New Year, Robert takes a picture of Amethyst and mum Melinda which will later have great significance.
Because there are no fireworks going off in the background.
There are shots.
Deaths from gunshot wounds are now the most common cause of death among children in the United States.
More than 1,300 children have died from gunshot wounds in the United States in the first half of the year, reports say CNN.
The figures in recent years have been the highest ever.
It is estimated today 466 million firearms in the USafter record sales during the pandemic.
At the same time, the gun laws are still less strict.
The first child to die from gunshot wounds in 2023 was Amethyst Sistine Silva.
This is her story.
Amethyst was the youngest in a sibling pack of seven.
As the youngest girl, Amethyst was the one they had extra time for. And the one who was extra closely connected to the parents.
– She was not like other 11-year-olds, who are embarrassed to go shopping with their mother. When we got to a mall, Amethyst said, “Hold my hand mom, I’m still your baby,” Melinda says.
– She was the heart of our family. She made everyone light up with big smiles.
“Time heals all wounds”it is said, but for Robert and Melinda, the 11 months that have passed since the shooting incident have not healed anything.
Almost every night they go back to the place where the shooting took place.
Dad Robert has made a memorial for his daughter there, and so the crime scene has become one of the few places where he can find some peace.
– It gives comfort to come here and feel her presence, he explains.
The parents think constantly wondering if they could have done something differently.
– If we hadn’t gone out to watch fireworks, it wouldn’t have happened, says the mother.
– If I had stood a little further to the right, I would have been hit, not her, says the father.
After the trip to the harbor promenade, the family had a quiet New Year’s celebration at home.
– We didn’t want to go to the city, where people had been drinking. We stayed right by the apartment, explains Melinda.
But a little further down the street, someone wanted to mark the New Year by shooting into the air.
When the clock strikes midnight, there is a bang on the wall behind them.
Several shots have been fired.
One of them hits Amethyst, who signs about behind them.
Terrified, the parents do what all Americans do in the event of a crisis, they call 911.
What then happens is disputed.
The parents explain that they called 911, but did not get through. A few minutes later, they tried again. Still no response.
It matches the call log on Melinda’s phone.
Then they don’t got through to the emergency services, the parents drove their daughter to hospital themselves, but they fear they lost valuable time doing so.
The police have later claimed that they were there within a few minutes, because a neighbor also called.
By then the family had already driven.
In the chaos that ensued near the hospital, dad Robert was temporarily arrested by the police.
Inside the hospital, mum Melinda was also kept away from her daughter.
– The police have said that it is normal procedure for shootings to be investigated. But they robbed us of the opportunity to say goodbye to our daughter, the parents despair.
The parents demand answer to why the emergency services failed.
The police’s version is that they tried to call back, but got no answer.
The parents say they never received a call, and point out that the phone log confirms their version.
The police told the family’s lawyer Mauricio Celis that it was the mobile network that was overloaded, since so many people tried to call and text with “Happy New Year” messages, the lawyer told VG.
– But after this case became known, many people have come to me and testified that they have not been able to get through to 911, says Celis to VG.
The lawyer explains that his team is investigating to find out if the fault lies with the telecom operator.
Their theory is that if the mobile network becomes overloaded, the 911 center will not receive calls on its landlines. If so, there is a serious failure in America’s emergency network.
– If the 911 system had worked properly, Amethyst could have been saved, says Celis.
The lawyer also assists the parents against the police investigation into the shooting incident itself.
Papa Robert himself has found the most important piece of evidence.
– The day after the incident, I felt that Amethyst asked me to look at the picture I took just before she was shot.
In the background, if the image enlarges, it is possible to see two powerful people.
Robert recognized one of them from the neighborhood and notified the police.
The 43-year-old man and his 29-year-old son-in-law were arrested, and have admitted during questioning that they fired weapons to celebrate New Year’s Eve.
They are both charged and have stayed identified by the police.
The men claim that they shot at a ditch edge, not at the block of flats where Amethyst and her family were standing.
– These men should have known how dangerous they were behaving, say the parents and point in the direction the shots came from.
I Texas is it actually legal to fire a firearm to celebrate something, so-called celebratory gunfire.
But it is only legal outside densely built-up areas.
The two men are currently charged with “fatal negligence when firing a firearm”.
– The shots were fired within the city limits, in the direction of an apartment block. We believe the charge will be negligent homicide, but we believe they should be sentenced for intentional homicide, says lawyer Mauricio Celis.
For the parents, the waiting period for a court case is painful.
– They have taken from us the dearest thing we have, and should not be free men, say Melinda and Robert, at their daughter’s grave.
Attorney Celis hopes that attention to the case will lead to stricter gun laws in Texas. He points out to VG that the law has recently become even more liberal:
Now a firearms license is no longer required to buy a firearm.
– It is heartbreaking and crazy that so many children in the US die because of firearms, says dad Robert.
– Negligence with weapons is due to weak requirements for training and safe storage of weapons, adds the mother.
In the place of honor in the family’s simple home in Texas stands a memorial to the daughter.
It is a collection of photos of her, and some of her dearest possessions.
The parents explain that telling Amethyst’s story keeps her memory alive.
– We hope that focusing on the 911 failure can prevent it from happening again, says the mother.
Robert looks out to sea. For him, only one thought is comforting.
– Every day that passes brings me one day closer to meeting my daughter again.
VG has asked police in Corpus Christi about their version of why the emergency call to 911 was not answered, and how they feel that the parents believe that failure may have contributed to Amethyst’s death.
The police indicate that there may be a civil lawsuit related to the 911 call, which means that VG’s questions cannot be answered.
VG has also asked about the status of the criminal case and how the police react to the fact that the parents feel the investigation has taken so long.
The police cannot answer that either.
They point out that the investigation has ended on their part, and that the case has now been sent to the public prosecutor, who will decide what the final charge will be.
Read other reports from VG in the USA:
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Published: 10.12.23 at 07:55
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2023-12-10 06:55:12
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