Every night since he was shot and killed Friday, 16-year-old Esteban Valenzuela’s friends have gathered at a memorial site on Dancer Lane in the Maricopa Meadows.

A group of teens last night arranged flowers, lit candles and stood in dark silence on the quiet street remembering a friend they played sports with and trusted with cutting their hair. Valenzuela’s mother, Aurora Martinez, attended with his older brother Anthony.

“He was my protector,” Martinez told InMaricopa a few paces from the memorial. “Anywhere we would go, he was always watching over me and his sister.”

A sophomore at Student Choice High School, Valenzuela was shot around 7:15 p.m. Friday near the intersection of Dancer Lane and Dirk Street. He died at a Valley hospital that night and police have yet to conclude what happened.

More than a dozen of Valenzuela’s friends erected the temporary memorial at the site where he was killed: roses, poinsettias, votive and prayer candles surrounded a concrete cross draped with a chain necklace and printed photographs.

“He was very passionate. He had lots of dreams and loved everybody,” Martinez said. “He just wanted to work and would go around the neighborhood asking people if they needed help with yardwork, anything he could do.”

“He had a lot of heart, and he was a go-getter,” his brother Anthony said. “If he set his mind to it, he would chase after it.”

Martinez said her younger son frequently offered to help his neighbors with yardwork and aspired to be a barber after high school.

“He had friends come over to the house and he would cut their hair from what he learned off YouTube,” she said. “His grandpa was the first person he practiced on a year ago. It was a little rough but it’s what he wanted to do.”

Martinez said a family friend set up an online fundraiser to assist with $10,000 in funeral expenses for the youngest of her three sons. The service is planned for late next month and so far, the family have reached one-quarter of their goal.

“We’re just asking for support because it was so sudden,” the grieving mother said. “I am a single mom with five kids and need help funding the funeral.”

Other recent shootings involved teens

Valenzuela’s killing was at least the third reported shooting involving a teen since last year. Another 16-year-old was injured by a gunshot wound at a park near the intersection of Homestead Drive and Continental Boulevard on Sept. 28.

The victim in that case told police they went to the park earlier that night and became involved in an altercation with an unknown suspect, who shot the teen and fled. Police did not say what led to the altercation, but confirmed the teen was treated for non-life-threatening injuries in a Valley hospital.

Last June, a 17-year-old boy involved in an attempted burglary in Tortosa was shot twice in the back and once in the stomach while attempting to evade police. The teen died enroute to Chandler Regional Hospital.

An investigation by the FBI and Gila River Police Department found the child was armed with a handgun when he was gunned down by a Maricopa Police Department officer.