SAN ANTONIO — A San Antonio father is preparing to bury his 2-year-old daughter more than week after she died in a hospital bed following a shooting on the southeast side last month.
On Feb.18, San Antonio police responded to a home on Dublin Street and found the child had reportedly shot herself. Investigators said she was there with her mother and her mom’s boyfriend at the home. Following the incident, the girl was in the ICU fighting for her life, but died ten days later in the hospital.
“I got to stay strong, but it’s just hard,” said Julio Gonzalez, the girl’s father.
He identified his daughter as Juelz Emily Gonzalez and described her as a happy girl with a big beautiful smile. Immediately after the shooting, he had a hard time believing the young girl shot herself, and on Tuesday, told KENS 5 his belief hasn’t changed.
“My daughter didn’t shoot herself,” he said.
In a follow up with police, they said there were no updates on the incident as of right now. Last they had heard from detectives, the investigation remains ongoing.
We also checked in with the medical examiner, and they said the case for the child is pending on cause and method of death. Gonzalez told us he was frustrated by the hearsay following the incident.
Questions remain but with his daughter’s funeral service approaching, he is focusing on what he can do for his daughter now.
“I want to know that I did everything in my power to give her the very best before she left this earth,” Gonzalez said.
The family has a Go Fund Me and friends have hosted plate sales to raise money to pay for funeral expenses. On Tuesday, Gonzalez said money raised would go to funeral expenses such as a casket and headstone.
He also wants to create an organization in his daughter’s memory and pay for counseling for his other daughter Julia, who he says witnessed Juelz' shooting.