dedcaited to Deward Ponte ,
Glad you made it cause life here is
complicaited.
His mother enrolled him in a westside school to get him away from what she considered a bad neighbourhood, but Deward Ponte found it hard to stop hanging out with his old school friends in east Vancouver.
The 15-year-old never made it home Sunday after he was stabbed to death about 2 a.m. near Grays Park, just north of 33rd Avenue near Fraser Street. A 19-year-old man was also stabbed, but is said to be in stable condition in hospital.
Vancouver police wouldn't release any names Sunday, but Keith Blais said the dead teen was his stepson Deward. Blais said he was called to the hospital to identify the youth, who came to Canada from the Philippines with his younger sister two years ago to join his mother for "a better life."
Ponte's death is Vancouver's third homicide of 2008.
"The poor kid didn't get a lot of breaks," Blais said near the crime scene Sunday morning, adding Ponte had lost his father at age four. "It's so tragic and unexpected. It happened so fast. There one day, gone the next."
Ponte's friend Bernard Siscar said in an e-mail that he was shocked that Ponte was dead, describing him as a "great and good friend" who dreamed of becoming a boxer.
He said Ponte would always come to his house to play video games and tell him stories about how hard life was in the Philippines where, at the age of 10, he was working while taking care of his sister.
Ponte and the 19-year-old man were found bleeding from stab wounds in the 1000-block of East 33rd Avenue shortly after police were called to Grays Park, where about a dozen teens were causing a disturbance just after 2 a.m.
As the officers were en route, another call came in from a resident who reported hearing screams nearby, Const. Tim Fanning said.
Paramedics took the two teens to hospital, but Ponte didn't make it. It's unclear when he died.
Fanning would not release information about how many times the youths were stabbed or what weapon was used. It is unclear whether the stabbing occurred in the park or on the street, he said.
Police secured the entire park, as well as nearby alleys and Sir Richard McBride School Annex, to hunt for clues as to what happened. About a dozen officers are scouring the area, he said.
"It's such a tragedy to have this murder of a 15-year-old boy," Fanning said. "Our officers are going over the area with a fine-tooth comb because we want to find out what happened and who's responsible."
Ponte's mother was too upset to speak about her son Sunday. But Blais said he was a "decent kid" and a "basketball champ" at Sir Winston Churchill secondary on Vancouver's west side.
He was transferred there from John Oliver secondary, near 33rd Avenue and Fraser Street, six months after he arrived, Blais said, because his mother wanted to "get him away from this area" and give him a good study environment. The family lives at Main Street and 47th Avenue.
"She worked really hard for her family, getting them here and giving them a good start," Blais said. "I've never known [Ponte] to get in trouble. He had a decent home life, love from his mom, a beautiful sister. . . ."
But Ponte kept going back to hang out with his old friends.
"She always told him not to go out at night, but you know 15-year-old kids," Blais said. "This is not a fun place to go at 2 a.m."
Despite living in Canada, Ponte also kept strong ties to his homeland. In his Facebook profile, he had started a group F.C. -- Flip Connection -- which had 16 members, most of them Filipinos. In his note to members, he stated "I love you! This year is the best! Stick together... No matter what happens."
His favourite quote cited on the site also extolled the virtue of being Filipino, sticking together and dying with pride. The end of the poem reads:
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