Unsung hero falls on the street

His name was Francisco Zaragoza.

The likelihood is you’ve never heard his name before and the likelihood is you will never hear it again.

Zaragoza was shot to death near his South Los Angeles home two weeks ago. He was 15. But unlike more celebrated cases, his death passed unnoticed by the media, including The Times. Too bad.

I say that not because the killing of one kid necessarily disrupts the tides of life in a town that sees too many killings of too many kids, but because Zaragoza died adhering to a principle: He didn’t want to be a gang member.

I first heard of him from my son, Allen, a man who cares deeply about, well, everyone. He was driving by the area near East 57th Street and Compton Avenue when he spotted police activity.

Aware of my constant search for column topics, he stopped and discovered that the victim was a teenage boy who had been shot in a barrage of gunfire. He gave me the name of someone acquainted with the victim. And the story of the boy named Francisco Zaragoza emerged.

The acquaintance asked that his full name not be used, so I’ll call him Alfredo. He once worked in a park not far from Francisco’s home. Alfredo saw the boy often over a three-year period as he passed through the park on his bicycle to and from school. Occasionally, he stopped to talk.

“He was a pretty cool kid,” Alfredo said. “He was no gang member. Sometimes he brought his little brother to the park. He had an older brother too, and I think a sister. He was going to school, and he was doing good.”

A current employee at the park saw Francisco on the day of the shooting, March 9, about 3:30 in the afternoon, probably coming home from school. Alfredo was in the vicinity. He heard the shooting but thought nothing of it. The sounds of gunfire aren’t new to South L.A.

“Then,” he said, “helicopters were hovering right above us, and I saw someone lying on the ground. It wasn’t until the next day, when there were candles in front of his house, that I realized it was Francisco.”

Witnesses told police that the boy was walking toward the house when a car pulled up and shots were fired. The vehicle sped away. No suspects have been arrested. A police report noted a gunshot wound to the boy’s head, two to his left arm and one to his left leg. Empty casings from a .22 caliber rifle were recovered at the scene.

Francisco, in the blink of time it took four shots to be fired, became Coroner’s Case 2005-01972. Another kid killed on the streets of L.A.

“I know the good people in the neighborhood and I know the bad ones,” Alfredo said. “When I heard that someone had been killed, I thought it might have been the guy around the corner, one of the bad ones. Instead, it was one of the good ones.”

A police investigation appears to confirm that. A detective said that preliminary evidence indicates that Francisco was shot because he had refused to join one of the street gangs active in the area.

Family members declined to talk to me, but it is apparent by Francisco’s reported conduct that someone instilled in him the courage to say no to thugs with guns, and he paid for his courage, and his principles, with his life. That should not go unnoticed.

Tribute, beyond eulogies spoken at his funeral service Saturday, is due a boy whose life was ended too soon and whose existence has been reduced from the soft flesh of a living person to the case files of violent endings. There ought to be a street named after him, or that park where he used to ride his bike, or maybe even a school.

Heroism should not be measured only by grand events. Sometimes, it’s just a quiet decision made with the knowledge of possible consequences. Sometimes, it’s refusing to trade one’s individuality and conscience for the protection of criminals. Sometimes it’s doing the right thing no matter how afraid you might be.

I suspect that Francisco Zaragoza, because he lived in an area that too often sees blood spilled on the streets, was aware of the danger that accompanied his refusal to join a gang. Kids learn quickly and know things that adults don’t. Words of defiance get around. But he still said no.

So I sing today of a young man lost in the shuffle of greater events who proved by his dying how brave and how stalwart the young can be in the face of terrible odds. There ought to be a statue.

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Al Martinez’s column appears Mondays and Fridays. He’s at al.martinez@latimes.com.