MIDLAND, Texas — Juan Herrera, 14, was killed in a Midland County Sheriff's Office deputy-involved shooting near the Sandstone Ridge Apartments in Midland on March 3. Since that day, his family has been waiting for answers.
"As far as what she's told us [Dora Vela], the attorney is working on it, that's all she knows, and the death certificate did say homicide, it did say he was shot in the back of the head, but he didn't have a weapon on him," said Melanie Melendez, one of Juan's aunts. "But we don't know why, what, what scared him none of that, we don't know."
Family members aren't the only ones who are searching for answers, members of the community want them too. JD Marion started the Facebook page "Justice for Juan Herrera."
"I got into the story and I created the page because I mean you got Texas Rangers, you got Midland Sheriff's Office, you got Midland P.D., you got everybody else who's working on this case, but nobody can release a statement, nobody can tell this mama why this police officer pulled the trigger on her baby," said Marion.
Right now we have no footage of what happened that night at the apartment complex.
"He didn't have any gun on him, so why would he shoot someone? Supposedly he took off running on pursuit and shot him that way, it just doesn't make sense," said Melendez.
Family and the community are hungry for more information.
"We want more answers, and with what Dora said, if he was just shot like that, is there going to be justice? Is the officer going to be, you know, anything against him? It's like you just can't slap it on the wrist and think this is okay," said Melendez. "I mean I don't know, there's just no justification for him doing that."
We reached out to the Texas Department of Public Safety. The department said this is an ongoing investigation by the Texas Rangers, who oversee the case, so they can not release any details at this time. We also don't know the name of the Midland County Sheriff's Deputy who was involved.