SAN ANTONIO – The rain did not stop a tremendous crowd from gathering, nor candles from burning, at Monterrey Park during the vigil held Friday evening for baby King Jay Davila.
Pastor Jimmy Robles, with Last Chance Ministries, who organized the event, called the weather a blessing.
“We ask that you continue to pour down these blessings upon us. We know that you’re cleansing our city, father God,” Robles said during the vigil.
The vigil was organized earlier in the week, but with a different purpose.
“We were coming together not as a prayer vigil but as a prayer to bring him back safely,” Robles said.
But when police confirmed 8-month old King Jay was deceased, the plan changed.
“Here we are, hearing the bad news this morning. Really, very emotional morning,” Robles said.
After an interrogation, police say, baby King Jay’s father, 34-year-old Christopher Davila, laid out the details.
Davila told police he was playing video games while baby King Jay sat in a car seat at the end of a bed. He said the car seat fell and King may have hit his head.
Hours later, Davila told police, the infant was dead. Instead of seeking help, the affidavit said, Davila buried the baby and then staged a fake kidnapping.
On Friday, other family members wore blue shirts in a show of solidarity, thanking law enforcement for staying on the case in which the child’s father, grandmother and the child’s father’s cousin have been arrested and charged.
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“I want to thank them for their efforts, as well as the community for loving baby King since the beginning of all of this,” said Adriana Gomez, baby King’s cousin.
Others not related to baby King came with a strong message, as well.
“What we want is, we want justice, and we do not want this to happen again. We want everyone to know that we are aware of the things that go on, and we want to prevent it,” said Janet Yanez Bermudez, who attended the vigil.
Robles said Castle Ridge Funeral Home has stepped up to provide a proper funeral for baby King for free, but how soon that happens will depend on how soon the autopsy is completed.