SAN ANTONIO – Less than 24 hours after he was shot and killed during a college party near the University of Texas at San Antonio, Delvin Scott, 20, was honored and remembered during a vigil at Miller’s Pond Park Sunday evening.
Scott was a high school graduate who had aspirations of becoming a football player. Unfortunately, that came to an end early Sunday around 3 a.m.
“I never expected to get that call,” said Charlene McGraw, Scott’s mother. “I never expected it. I expected me to go before my kids. Out of six sons, I never expected to have to bury one of them.”
McGraw said the call made her numb.
“God gave me the strength to pray the entire time when I was on my way to his location,” McGraw said. “Police told me what I was driving to while I was on my way, and even then, God provided for me. I waited and waited and it was about 5:15 a.m. before I was able to see his body in the bag. I just prayed. God gave me people to pray over us all.”
She said it was only God who blessed her to stay strong through it all.
“That is the only way I could have waited all of those hours,” McGraw said.
McGraw said she now knows what it feels like to be on both sides of a shooting such as this.
“I lost my nephew, so I never knew what my sister went through,” McGraw said. “Now I understand. It's still unbelievable. I am still waiting on 'Dee Dee' to call me and crack a joke or something.”
During the vigil, several of Scott’s family members and friends gathered laughing and crying about the memories they had with him.
“He was a good son,” McGraw said. “He was a good brother, uncle. He gave us a lot of good memories that we can live on.”
“He was the life of the party,” said one of Scott’s closest friends, Joe Tamayo. “There was never a dull moment with him. He was amusing. He always tried having get-togethers to play basketball and have parties and stuff. He was a good person. It just hurts because he was young. That was my little brother. He just went out to have a good time and he lost his life and it is not fair.”
Tamayo said he hopes this serves as a lesson to the youth today.
“We have to learn from our mistakes,” Tamayo said. “I want all to know that just because you have been a bad situation, it doesn’t mean you have to stay there. No matter where you come from or what you have done, God forgives everybody.”
He said he hopes the person responsible for Scott’s death is held accountable.
“You got to make better choices in life because the decision you made has affected a whole group of people,” Tamayo said. “Mothers, brothers, grandmothers and more. You all are fighting for something that is not going to be there when you die.
"You have to live for a purpose. We got a lot of people dying out here. I am going to funerals every other week -- behind nonsense, stupidity -- and it's not even worth it. Be a better person.”
While they all pray for justice, McGraw said she full of forgiveness.
“When you pull that trigger, you are killing yourself and you are killing your family,” McGraw said. “Then the person that you go shoot, you are killing them, too, so you are killing both of your families together.
"You have to put the guns down. I remember we used to fight, play, and play and fight some more. It was never guns. Just put it down and stop. I just really want that person to turn themselves in and to know I sincerely forgive them. I have to forgive them to be able to live my life and to go on and to be strong for my sons.”
