Mother of Lesandro Guzman-Feliz reflects on her son's life 5 years after his murder
NEW YORK -- Tuesday marks five years since the death of Lesandro Guzman-Feliz, also known as "Junior."
In 2018, he was fatally stabbed outside a Bronx bodega in a gang-related assault. The crime was caught on video and shocked the city.
CBS2 recently sat down with his mother, Leandra Feliz.
On the five-year anniversary of her son's death, she visited Junior's gravesite with people who have supported her since his brutal murder shocked the city June 20 of that year.
"I love her and I love him. I never met him," one supporter said.
One even named her daughter after him. On that day in 2018, cameras captured Junior being dragged from a Belmont bodega and fatally stabbed with a machete by Trinitarios gang members who mistook him for someone else.
"No human people that were there helped my son," Leandra Feliz said.
READ MORE: 5 gang members plead guilty in 2018 killing of Bronx teen Lesandro "Junior" Guzman-Feliz
She says inside her apartment, "I feel Junior's spirit. I feel his hug. I feel God."
She only keeps good memories, with her son's smile filling the walls.
"That make me feel support. I need it," Leandra said.
She wears a shirt that reads "Forever 15," the age he was when he died. He would have turned 20 this November.
When asked what she wants people to know about Junior, his mother said, "He was really innocent and joke, always making people laugh and he was doing great in school. His dream was to be a police officer."
Junior was in the NYPD Explorer Program and his uniform is now framed. There is also an NYPD scholarship in his name.
There was also City Council legislation that failed to pass for panic alarms to be installed in every bodega, but a public private partnership in the Bronx was launched this month to do that.
"If they had the panic button that night my son could be alive now," Leandra said.
His death also sparked massive protests throughout the city demanding "Justice for Junior." There were three trials, each for the different roles the 14 gang members played in his death. Several were sentenced to 25 years to life in prison, but two who cooperated with the district attorney were released.
Earlier this year, the final five defendants in the case were sentenced, but Leandra says it does not bring closure. In fact, she says justice still has not been served.
"For me, they kill Junior. They went out with the same intention to kill, you know. They have to do something different like a terrorist because this is a terror for everybody who actually live in the neighborhood," Leandra said.
She says she wants to see laws changed so that everyone in a group assault faces the same consequences.
One of the suspects is appealing his conviction.
