Tonight, a special needs young man is dead after his step-father fatally stabbed him.
It's a shocking case of domestic violence that's shaken a San Martin family to their core. Now, that stepfather is on the run, having spent the last 24 hours on the run after absconding with the knife that's now a murder weapon. Cherisse Halsall has the story:
Walter had known Javier Chuc for the better part of a decade, ever since he'd moved in with his mom, but it seems that there had always been animosity between step-father and stepson with Javier often referring to Walter, a young man with a disability, as a burden. And Walter believing that it was his job to protect his mom from Javier Chuc's constant bouts of violence.
Walter's cousin Alessandro says that all that animosity came to a head last night when Javier got into yet another fight with Walter's mother.
Alessandro Calderon, Cousin
"It began with Javier, he came kind of drunk right and then he came here with my aunty and then he and my aunty started to argue right, then he said something else that he got pissed off at my cousin and then he said something else and insulted my other cousin in Spanish and he got pissed off too because he's kind of drunk too, so he got angry. And he came to try and throw a punch to Javier and Javier grabbed him and slammed him into the car, right into this car. Then Axel went to the back I thought he was going into his room but he went to grab Javier's bike and dashed the bike down on top of him. Then Javier came again he shoved him over there, right over there by that fence and right there he took out the knife, quick stab the blade came out clean without getting any blood on it."
The family says that Walter, who hadn't yet begun to bleed, ran across the street in an attempt to get help from a friend, and that Javier jumped on his bike and rode off, taking his knife with him.
Joseph Myvette, Head NCIB
"At this time Javier Chuc is being sought by police in relation to this investigation."
But while the cops remain hot on his assailant's trail, Walter Gonzalez remains in a critical condition. At this point his family has very little hope for his survival.
Vanessa Gonzalez, Aunt
"I just spoke to my sister at 11:00 o clock, she said he's in a critical condition, he's brain dead already. It's a miracle if he makes it. They have him in surgery. Last night they couldn't, his liver is damaged and something inside that the blood is not staying in him, they can't stop him bleeding."
It's a tragic turn of events that have left this family in desperate fear of what lies ahead.
Alessandro Calderon, Cousin
"Me and him when we were small we always got a long, I was a good cousin to him all the time. I always watched his back and always we were good friends, losing him, it's a hard thing he was very close to me."
Vanessa Gonzalez, Aunt
"I am his aunty and I love him so much, he was like aunty I love you he would come to my house and let me encourage him to be a better person and I was like I know Axel I can work with you but you have to stop drinking. But last night he was not drinking that much just, you know young boys are now drinking every time, so I cannot blame it on him."
Doctors were never able to stop Walter Gonzalez's bleeding, and by this afternoon he'd succumbed to his injuries. It is now being treated as a death investigation with the alleged killer, Javier Chuc on the run.
