Recalling Stations of Cross, trip urges end to gun violence

By Julie Poppen, Rocky Mountain News
April 10, 2004

The execution-style slayings of four Denver residents last year were compared to the First Station of the Cross Friday, where Jesus was condemned to die.

To mark Good Friday, about 25 parishioners at Washington Park United Church of Christ and anti-gun activists made their annual pilgrimage around Denver visiting sites of high-profile shootings.

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The aim of the bus trip, now in its 10th year, is to remember the victims and demand an end to gun violence on the day that marks Jesus' death on the cross.

Their first stop was the now-vacant northeast Denver apartment where Rose Amador, 46, Filbert "Bobby" Pacheco, 47, Sally Mendoza, 47, and Blanca Duenas-Balbuena, 21, were bound and shot in the head Aug. 7. The murders were witnessed by Duenas-Balbuena's 3-year-old daughter.

As family members of the victims wept, the Rev. Emily Hassler described the crime and a parishioner carefully laid a bouquet of pink roses on the wet parking lot. Participants held signs reading things such as, "Become a Peaceful Warrior: Say 'no' to guns."

The family welcomed the group.

"It just seemed right with the church coming and giving courage to our family," said Amador's 17-year-old niece Angelina Gallegos. "We really, really needed it."

Denver District Attorney Bill Ritter recently said he won't seek the death penalty against Edward Herrera, 51, and his son, Michael Sandoval, 23, each charged with four counts of first-degree murder in one of the deadliest shootings in recent Denver history. Two others were injured.

The next stop was the home of Paul Childs, the developmentally disabled teen who was shot and killed by Denver police officer James Turney after refusing to drop a knife July 5.

The Childs shooting was compared to the Third Station of the Cross, when Jesus stumbles. Again, the protesters got out of the bus with their signs and stood in a circle in the rain.

The group also visited the home of 15-year-old Sammy Burks Jr., who was shot in the liver July 30 by his 14-year-old friend as the friend showed off his father's pistol found under a mattress.

Burks died later at University Hospital.

The final stop was the Aurora apartment of Denise Washington, a mentally ill woman who was killed by police officer John Austin after she attacked him with a brass candlestick.

District Attorney James Peters recently ruled the shooting justified.

Hassler said the aim of the event was to "raise awareness of the nature of violence in our culture."

"We are so desensitized by the media," Hassler said. "When people lose their lives to gun violence, it becomes one more event."

Participant Vanessa Owen, a student at the Iliff School of Theology and a church member, said her faith called her to join the protest.

"Working for justice and love means we need to protest violence in all of its forms," Owen said.

"It seems to link up well with Good Friday."

poppenj@RockyMountain News.com or 303-892-5176

Copyright 2004, Rocky Mountain News. All Rights Reserved.