By Ryan Parry, Daily Mail
The mother of a teenage boy gunned down by an illegal Mexican immigrant in strikingly similar circumstances to how Kathryn Steinle died, has backed Presidential hopeful Donald Trump to ‘close our borders’.
Anita Shaw, whose 17-year-old boy Jamiel Jr was murdered by gang member Pedro Espinoza in Los Angeles in 2008, says she is ‘angry’ at the current immigration policy.
She told Daily Mail Online: ‘It makes me sad, it makes me angry, it makes me frustrated.
‘It’s amazing to me that the same incident is still going on today. It’s like, when will the public wake up and do something.
‘And this guy who is running for President, Donald Trump, he’s trying to do something and they’re trying to shut him down.
Murdered: Jamiel Shaw, 17, with his father Jamiel snr. He was a complete innocent when he was shot twice in the head by illegal immigrant Pedro Espinoza in March 2008 in Los Angeles
Talented: Jamiel Shaw had been the subject of interest as a college football player on both sides of the country when he was murdered simply because his red Spiderman backpack was mistaken as a gang sign
Bereaved: Jamiel Shaw and Anita Shaw after their sons death. Sgt Shaw was serving in Iraq when her 17-year-old son was murdered
Illegal: Pedro Espinoza as he was sentenced to death in 2012. He was never supposed to be in the country – if his immigration records had been checked properly it would have been clear he should have been deported
‘I believe in what he’s saying, he’s trying to fix the borders and do all the things people should have done a long time ago.’
Los Angeles High School football standout Jamiel was shot twice, once in the stomach and once in the head, near his Arlington Heights home in March, 2008.
He was targeted by Espinoza simply because he was carrying a red Spider-Man backpack and was mistaken for a rival gang member.
The killer, who was aged 19, had been released the day before he killed Jamiel having served four months of an eight month sentence for assault with a deadly weapon and battery on a police officer.
He had lied about his immigration status – which if it had been properly checked would have made clear he was wanted for deportation.
The case has echoes of 32-year-old Kathryn Steinle’s death in San Francisco because suspected killer Francisco Sanchez, 45, was deported five times before he allegedly struck.
Immigration officials said that they had made him a ‘priority’ request for any law enforcement officers who picked him up.
But when he was arrested over marijuana four months ago in San Francisco he was let go, in accordance with city policy designed to give ‘sanctuary’ to undocumented migrants.
Anita, 50, who was serving with the U.S. Army in Iraq when she was told of her eldest son’s death, said: ‘I still don’t understand why it happened, just like what happened in San Francisco, why wasn’t this guy deported after he was released from prison. ‘Sanctuary City’, that’s crazy.
‘When I heard about the girl in San Francisco, I said, ‘oh no, not again’, she was so pretty and so young and to be with her father and her brother when it happened, just enjoying her day, and then all of a sudden no more.’
For Army Sgt Anita, who is currently based in Fort Hood, Texas where she works as a supply specialist, the death only brought memories of Jamiel’s death flooding back.
