In the warm evening of May 13, 2023, a gathering of friends at a barbecue in a Phoenix, Arizona apartment complex took a tragic turn, ending the life of 17-year-old Matthew Ballesteros. The young man was with a group in the common area near 39th Avenue and McDowell Road when the night devolved into violence. Earlier in the evening, around 8 p.m., a sense of unease had already crept in, as Matthew had approached a neighbor to borrow a phone to call his mother for a ride, confiding that another
individual at the barbecue, Alexander Martin Reyes, was acting strangely.
As the night wore on, the situation escalated. Around 11:30 p.m., a fearful Matthew returned to the same neighbor, this time desperately asking for the phone again, revealing that Reyes had pointed a gun at him. Minutes after he left the neighbor's apartment, the sound of gunshots pierced the night air. Witnesses discovered Matthew on the ground, suffering from gunshot wounds to his shoulder and head. First responders rushed the critically injured teenager to a local hospital. Despite medical efforts, he succumbed to his injuries the following day, May 14, 2023, which was Mother's Day.
The investigation into the shooting quickly focused on 24-year-old Alexander Martin Reyes. Phoenix police arrested Reyes on May 17, 2023, and he was booked on a charge of murder. However, in a turn of events that brought further anguish to Matthew's family, the murder charges against Reyes were later dropped. The Maricopa County Attorney's Office cited a lack of sufficient evidence to secure a conviction. This decision was communicated to Matthew's mother in a letter, leaving the family devastated and without the justice they sought for their son. The case gained renewed attention when, in a tragic sequel, Reyes was arrested and accused of the stabbing murder of another man, 36-year-old Gabriel Trejo, on July 31, 2024. This development compounded the grief of Matthew's family, who now share a painful bond with another family mourning a loved one, allegedly at the hands of the same man.
