You Never Know

A young man stabbed to death is just another story in the daily news when you live in a huge city like San Diego. This incident happened on the San Diego State University campus, right next to the gym on campus where I work, which brought the story much closer to home. It was a very surreal scene on Saturday morning when I walked to the gym for work - the street had been blocked by police cars but I had no idea what had happened. As I walked into the gym, I ran into a co-worker who informed me that a stabbing had taken place around 2am and it was fatal. When I walked to the back of the gym where I normally train my clients, I was able to see the crime scene. The police were in the middle of investigating and collecting evidence still - this was now about 7 hours after the stabbing had occurred. The sign for the parking lot is clearly visible from the windows at the back of the gym and it was on the corner of this sign that was covered with blood. The young man who had lost his life was still at the scene (out of sight from the gym) - his body had been covered with a bright yellow tarp. The police were still photographing the scene and collecting as much information before his body was taken away to the morgue.

It was a shocking scene to see and the investigation continued for hours after that. The next day, the sign had been painted so that you could no longer see the blood and the whole area had been cleaned up. As the story came out, we discovered that a group of four young men had left a party on campus around 2am Friday night (Saturday morning) and encountered another group of four young men. An argument broke out between the two groups - apparently the second group of men were attempting to pick a fight. The news has said that the men in the second group had weapons and stabbed all four in the first group...actually we don't even know if it was just one person doing the stabbing or more than one. All four men in the first group were injured with stab wounds but one was fatally stabbed. Luis Watson Dos Santos was a 22 year old student at Mesa College (a local community college) and has been described as someone who would rather joke around with people. He was not one to get into a fight with anyone. I spoke with a girl who knew him and had talked to his friends who had been injured - she said that Luis had run from the men and yelled that he didn't want to fight them. They stabbed him to death.

These pictures are the memorial that local students and friends of Luis have put up in his memory. He was a fun loving kid who was much loved and had many friends. His father has said “It's totally senseless,” said Santos' father in a telephone interview last night. “Somebody was out looking for trouble, and somebody's dead. I don't wish they would get the death penalty. A second tragedy would be waiting to happen if the family of the people who did this have to suffer. There's nothing anybody can do to bring my son back.”

It is definitely a senseless tragedy and he will be missed by many people. It just goes to show that these things do not always happen to others or in someone else's area. They can happen in our own backyard. Keep an eye out for yourself and your loved ones, neighbors, etc. You never know when you can make a difference.