Drayven Quiroz, 20, left, and his brother Maliki Perales, 11, were shot and killed in their driveway Tuesday evening by a neighbor. Authorities said the attack was unprovoked.
Courtesy of the Perales family
A memorial to brothers Maliki Perales, 11, and Drayven Quiroz, 20, sits outside their home on San Antonio’s far West Side.
Annasofia Scheve / Express-News/Annasofia Scheve
Andrew Perales wiped tears from his eyes as he stood on his porch, overlooking the driveway where his two sons were gunned down days earlier by a neighbor.
“We’ve never dealt with this type of loss, so it’s not easy,” Perales said Friday morning at his home on the far West Side. “But we’re taking it day by day.”
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Before the fatal shooting on Tuesday evening, Perales and his wife, Ruby, were getting ready to travel to South Dakota for a motorcycle rally and were preparing their six children to be on their own.
“Drayven was going to stay behind to take the kids to school, so it was going to be his responsibility to be a big brother,” Perales said.
Drayven Quiroz, 20, was living with his parents while recovering from health problems that landed him in the ICU. His manager at KFC had promised to hold a job for him while he regained his strength.
His younger brother, 11-year-old Maliki Perales, was about to start middle school at IDEA Public Schools’ Ambrose & Freda Robinson campus, near the family’s home in the 9800 block of Acadian Drive. He was a well-liked classmate who friends thought of as a brother.
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“Maliki was a very lovable, huggable child who (was) always kissing you and saying, ‘I love you,'” said his grandmother, Rosemary Perales.
‘It happened so fast’
Maliki was his older brother’s shadow. So when Drayven went to move the family’s pickup truck into the driveway around 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Maliki joined him.
After he pulled the truck in, Drayven called to his parents, who were inside the house, and said a man was standing across the street and looking at them.
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“It happened so fast,” Perales said. “Before he could even finish saying that this dude was doing this, he was already shot.”
Perales said that doorbell camera footage captured the suspect, later identified as their 40-year-old neighbor, Daniel Antonio Perez, approaching the truck and firing at Drayven and Maliki.
One of the boys got out of the truck and tried to reach the front door of the house, but Perez shot him in the torso, according to Perales. He said Perez then went back to the truck, firing what Perales called an “execution shot” at his other son.
Perales grabbed his own gun and ran outside, pointing it at Perez, who he says had reloaded his gun and was still shooting.
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“Something just pushed my hand down,” he said. “I honestly feel it was my son.”
Family members called 911 in a panic as Perez ran off.
Deputies arrived, but medics would not enter the neighborhood because it was an active shooting scene, family members say. Perales said he had to carry his son to a Dollar General about a quarter-mile away to get him into an ambulance.
Meanwhile, emergency dispatchers received a call from Perez, who informed them he had just shot his neighbors, Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said.
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Deputies used Perez’s cell phone data to track him to a backyard a quarter-mile from his home. They took him into custody about 10 minutes after the shooting. They recovered the handgun from a nearby drainage culvert.
Maliki died just before 9 p.m. Tuesday night. Drayven died 12 hours later.
‘Share your memories’
Perez is charged with capital murder, aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury and four counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
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Salazar called the shooting an “unprovoked” mental health-related incident. He said Perez had a history of depression and “seeing things that were not there.” Several family members had attempted to restrain him before the shooting.
Perales said his family has lived in their home for more than two years but had never seen Perez before. He remembers mowing the lawn and picking up trash for Perez’s family, who kept to themselves.
“They were doing what they needed to do to try and stop the situation,” Perales said. “So it’s not their fault.”
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He said the family is focusing on planning the brothers’ funeral service. They are asking friends and loved ones to send photos and videos of Drayven and Maliki in hopes of focusing on the good times.
“Share your memories. Share your thoughts. Share how they impacted your lives,” Perales said. “That’s what I want to hear — who was my son beyond these walls?”