SAN ANTONIO – One year after 14-year-old Simon Cuevas was shot and killed while walking home from school, his mom is still searching for justice.
Cuevas was followed by a group of boys after leaving San Antonio Independent School District’s Brewer Academy on April 16, 2025. Shortly after leaving the school, Cuevas was killed.
“It’s been rough,” Alejandra Cuevas said. “It really has been, it’s been exhausting.”
Investigators identified five suspects connected to the death of Simon Cuevas. One suspect, Caesar Tijerina, died by suicide during the investigation.
Two of the suspects, who are siblings, are minors, so there are not as many details available about their status. However, one of the juveniles was 14 years old at the time and the other was 16 years old.
They were initially charged with capital murder, but that charge was downgraded to assault causing bodily injury.
The last two suspects are Andrew Cantu and Fernando Flores, who both face the charge of injury to a child with intent to cause bodily injury.
“When I hear an injury to a child and my child is not even alive — It’s hard, it’s just hard,” Alejandra Cuevas said. “My child was only 14, he was loved, he is still loved and very missed.”
Several other mothers attended a balloon release in honor of the one-year mark since Simon Cuevas’ death.
“It’s a slap in our face, and I say our face, as a community,” Sylvia Zapata said. “Most of all, what is sad is that we’re giving an impression to our younger generation that it’s OK to do these things because you have a district attorney who doesn’t care about us.”
Alejandra Cuevas said she plans to be in court for all the sentencing dates in the future for Cantu and Flores.
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