SAN JOSE (KRON) — Family and friends are mourning the loss of a 19-year-old man found shot to death in San Jose.
It is the city’s seventh homicide of the year.
The family met with KRON4 just a few hours ago, and they are pleading with the public.
They want to find the person responsible for his death.
“I’ll never see him again,” said his grandfather Carlos Partida.
Partida says he is heartbroken.
On Saturday, he learned that his grandson, Joseph Viramontes, was shot and killed. His body found on the campus of Toyon Elementary School at 10:17 a.m.
Partida raised Joseph and said he had seen him on Friday night.
“I’ll never see him come through the door again, I’ll never hear his voice say, ‘Grandpa, I need a dollar, grandpa I need five,'” Partida said. “He always got everything from me, and now they took him away.”
Friends and family gathered in front of the school on Wednesday with candles.
“Our hearts are crushed,” Partida said.
They comforted each other and talked about Joseph, who grew up playing youth football in San Jose.
Friends have also started a GoFundMe to help his grandfather pay for funeral expenses.
“Joseph was an amazing kid, he was an outstanding football player, he was a respectable young man, he was grandpa’s boy,” Partida said.
Now, his grandpa is making it his mission to find the person or people responsible.
“I wish I could bring him back, but I can’t, and I want to find, to find….oh God… I want to find the son of a (expletive) who did this,” Partida said. “These are dad’s words, those are my words.”