MIDLAND, Texas — Friends and family members of Joshua Salcido want him to be remembered as a kind little brother and a friend to all.
Not as a murder victim.
"I'm like, 10 years older than him," said Josh's cousin Alexus Salcido. "He was like, our baby brother, he was a great kid. We got to see him, see his first words, steps in the world, it is very hard to know that. His birthday was this past Saturday, he just turned 17. It's really hard to know that I won't, we won't ever get to spend another birthday with him."
Which is why a peaceful protest was held in front of the Midland County Courthouse Monday evening.
It has been two years since Salcido was shot and killed. Those who were close to him have been waiting that same amount of time to get closure and justice for his murder.
Nikolas Moreno — the person accused of shooting Salcido — was inside the court for a status hearing. According to the family, he has been out of jail on a $150,000 bond.
They want to know why, after two years, there has not been a trial.
"Now it's time to make some noise because we're not seeing any traction," said Salcido. "July 31 will be two years. Two years too long... we are the victims. His parents are the victims."
They believe Joshua deserves justice.
"He was a great kid, and he is alive," said Salcido. "He was a child, a baby. No one deserves to happen, what happened to him."
NewsWest 9 reached out to the Midland County District Attorney's Office. They told us there are a lot of elements involved with Moreno's case and they'd rather have all their ducks in a row before going to trial.
"Murder cases do not tend to move to trial quickly, they are complicated," said Midland County District Attorney Laura Nodolf. "Evidentiary wise, they have a lot of evidence that goes with them. We don't wanna rush a case to trial unless we are ready and we believe we have everything lined up."
But the family may not have to wait much longer.
"We anticipate at this point and time, that we should be able to go to trial, hopefully sometime this fall," Nodolf said.