Songs and candles and flowers are helping the friends of Issi Dominguez deal with his death, though they admit questions linger with the pain.
"Who did it, what happened, how it happened, how he felt, who was the last person he thought of, like, I want to know how he felt before he died," friend Ruthie Gomez said.
The sidewalk memorial marks the spot along Valentine Avenue where Dominguez collapsed after being shot leaving a party early Sunday morning.
It happened on Tiebout Avenue, just about one block from his home. A nearby surveillance camera captured the moments right after someone fired a shot into a group of teens. Three people can be seen running away from the scene, which is just off camera. Within moments, police cruisers began arriving.
But by then, Dominguez had apparently made his way to Valentine, near 181th Street, where he died.
The murder comes less than two weeks after 15-year-old Vada Vesquez was shot heading home from school and just one week after a national protest against gun violence. That protest was led in the Bronx by borough president Ruben Diaz, Jr., who says the community has to work with law enforcement to make a difference.
"Go out there, identify who the criminals are, who we believe are perpetuating this violence, get them off the streets and then find an alternative for our youth," he said.
It could perhaps spare the life of another Isse Dominguez, who friends are rembering as a fun-loving innocent boy.
"He was good," friend Eddie Anderson said. "And he always thinks about other people before him. He put a smile on your face."
Those close to him believe he paid for someone else's quarrel.
"He was in the wrong place at the wrong time," said his sister.
Detectives have a working theory into what happened. They say Dominguez was standing with a group of people, some of who may have been involved with a stabbing two weeks ago, and someone fired a shot into the crowd that hit Dominguez. Police do not believe the victim was involved in that original stabbing.
