A woman stood outside a convenience store in Chula Vista, waiting to identify her teenage son’s body after a deadly shooting there Monday.

Martina Gaxiola identified the victim as her son Jesus Chuy Ponce, 19. Detectives said the shooting could be gang related, but Gaxiola said her son was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“It could’ve been anybody’s kid,” she said.

“There’s some cowards coming around trying to show off with a gun in their hand, shooting… don’t even know who they’re affecting. All the families they’re affecting,” she said.

Ponce and two others, including his 20-year-old cousin, were walking to the convenience store on the corner of 3rd Avenue and Main Street to get some snacks and drinks around midnight. The convenience store was just around the corner from the Casa Linda apartments where Ponce lived.

Chula Vista police said someone opened fire on the group, shooting Ponce in the chest and his cousin in the foot. A third victim was not shot.

Officials later officially identified the 19-year-old as Ponce.

Ponce was dragged to the convenience store to get help. That’s were citizens and police performed CPR on him.

However, he was pronounced dead at the scene according to police.



“It’s a mother’s worst nightmare to get that phone call in the middle of the night,” Gaxiola said.

He leaves behind two younger sisters, his mother and father and a large extended family.

“I’m hurting right now. His sisters are hurting right now. The whole family’s hurting right now,” she said.

She said Ponce was beloved in this community and she doesn't know who would want to hurt him.

The victim's cousin was taken to the UCSD Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries, according to officials.

Check back for updates on this developing story.