We T I P Inc

 

Ethan Esparza wasn't old enough for school, but his classroom was the front porch of his family's home in a working-class section of Pomona. There, his 8-year-old sister, Belinda, would show him her school textbooks, watch him doodle and go over the alphabet.

"He only learned half his ABCs," Belinda said from the porch Tuesday, looking out at the frontyard where Ethan was fatally shot Sunday night during a party celebrating his fourth birthday a day early.

Ethan was playing with a toy car, a birthday gift from his father, when an SUV with tinted windows came down the street. A man got out and sprayed gunfire on the yard filled with children from the party.

They scattered -- with Ethan going into his mother's room. Alma Torres, 25, found him moments later on the floor, gasping for air, blood coming from his mouth. 

She hugged her boy as he stared at her with silent, pleading eyes. She begged him to stay.

"He looked at me like, 'Help me, Mommy. Make everything OK,' " Torres said Tuesday, sobbing. "He wouldn't even cry. What I saw when my son died was fear. He was scared. I think he suffered a lot. He didn't want to die."

WeTip hotlines played a major roll as tips came in on the hotlines and found the perpetrator of this terrible crime -this little boy was to young to have to lose his life due to senseless gangs and crime. WeTip has been taking calls for over 40 years on all types of crime.

Sometimes the tips taken are heart wrenching sometimes we sigh with relief that a child or community member has taken the time to call before a crime has happened preventing another tragedy.

 Being anonymous works in an age of gangs and retaliation, people fear for their lives and WeTip offers the anonmity callers need to feel safe and protect their families and neighborhoods and schools.

 Too often the deck is stacked against children in  low-income and inner city schools.

WeTip has played an instrumental role in change for communities and children for over 40 years

WeTip has been just a phone call away at 1-800-78-CRIME.